How to Easily Unprotect an Excel Sheet With a Password

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Learn how to get into an Excel sheet that you forgot the password to

Written by Hannah Dillon

Last Updated: July 6, 2026 Fact Checked

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Using the ZIP Method

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Using Google Sheets

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Troubleshooting

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Video

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Q&A

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Tips

Forgetting the password to your Excel sheet is very frustrating. Thankfully, there are a few workarounds you can try. You can remove password protection from a sheet by converting it to a ZIP file and editing the sheet's XML file, or you can upload the sheet to Google Sheets, convert it to a Sheets file, then download it again. Keep reading to learn more.

Opening a Password-Protected Excel Sheet

If you have an Excel sheet that's locked, you can get around this by converting the sheet into a ZIP file and deleting the code in the sheet's XML file that makes the sheet password-protected. If the sheet is fully encrypted, you may be able to get around this using Google Sheets.

Section 1 of 3:

Using the ZIP Method

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1
Understand the conditions under which you can do this. If only a sheet in the Excel workbook is protected—that is, if you can open the Excel file and view its contents but not edit it—then you can use this method to remove the password protection on both Windows and Mac computers.
- If the Excel file itself is encrypted and requires a password even to view the contents, this method will definitely not work. You can try using Google Sheets to remove the password, but there are no guarantees.
- There's a chance this method won't work if the file was protected using the Microsoft 365 version of Excel.^{[1]
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Check to see if the Excel file is encrypted. The easiest way to do this is by double-clicking the Excel file. If the file opens and you can click Read Only to view the file, or if the file opens like usual when you double-click it, the file is not encrypted.^{[2]
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- If you're immediately prompted for a password upon double-clicking the file and not given the option to open it read-only, the file is encrypted, and you cannot use this method to open it.
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3
Make a copy of the workbook. In Finder or the Windows File Explorer, click the Excel file that contains the sheet you want to unprotect, then press Ctrl + C (Windows) or Command + C (Mac) and paste it into another folder by pressing Ctrl + V (Windows) or Command + V (Mac).^{[3]
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- This is necessary in case you accidentally corrupt the original version of the file in the process.
4
Enable file extensions. Skip this step on a Mac. If you're using a Windows computer, you'll need to make sure you can view and change file extension names by doing the following:
- Open File Explorer by pressing Windows key + E.
- Click View.
- Check the "File name extensions" box.
5
Change the Excel file into a ZIP folder. To do so:
- Windows: Right-click the Excel file, click Rename, delete the "xlsx" text at the end of the file's name, and type in zip. Make sure that you keep the period between the file's name and "zip". Press Enter and click Yes when prompted.
- Mac: Select the Excel file, click File, select Get Info, delete the "xlsx" text at the end of the file's name, and type in zip. Make sure that you keep the period between the file's name and "zip". Press Return and click Use .zip when prompted.
6
Extract the ZIP folder. This process will vary depending on your computer's operating system:
- Windows: Right-click the ZIP folder, click Extract All... in the drop-down menu, and click Extract when prompted. The extracted folder should open.
- Mac: Double-click the ZIP folder, then wait for the extracted folder to open.
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Double-click the xl folder. This opens the folder.^{[4]
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- If the extracted folder didn't open for some reason, first double-click the regular folder with the same name as your ZIP folder.
It's near the top of the "xl" folder.^{[5]
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Open the sheet in a text editor. Depending on your computer's operating system, do one of the following:
- Windows: Right-click the sheet you want to unlock (e.g., "Sheet1"), select Open with in the drop-down menu, and click Notepad in the resulting pop-up menu.
- Mac: Click the sheet you want to unlock (e.g., "Sheet1"), click File, select Open With, and click TextEdit.
Find the "sheetProtection" section that's inside the "< >" brackets, then delete everything from "<sheetProtection" to the closed bracket ("/>") on the other side of the sheet protection algorithm.^{[6]
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Save your changes and close the text editor. Press either Ctrl + S (Windows) or Command + S (Mac), then click the X (or red circle on a Mac) in the corner of the text editor.
- If multiple sheets in the workbook are protected, you'll need to remove protection from each separately. Open any other protected sheet in your text editor and remove the same line, saving each as you go.
Click the "Back" button to go back to the "xl" folder, then select the "worksheets" folder and press either Ctrl + C (Windows) or Command + C (Mac) to copy it.
This is the file you renamed and then extracted earlier (the one ending in .zip if you're using Windows). If you're using a Mac, double-click the new folder with the same name as the ZIP file.
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Replace the "worksheets" folder with your copied one. Navigate to the "worksheets" folder by double-clicking the "xl" folder, and then delete the "worksheets" folder inside. Next, right-click a blank place in the window and select Paste to paste the copied version.
- If you're using Windows, you've now added the copied folder back into the existing ZIP file.
- If you're using a Mac, you've added the copied folder to the extracted folder.
If you're using a Mac, press Control as you click the folder that you previously extracted—it's the folder with the same name as your spreadsheet. Then, select Compress from the menu. The folder is now a ZIP file again. ^{[7]
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Change the ZIP folder back into an Excel file. Close the ZIP file, then do one of the following:
- Windows: Right-click the ZIP folder, click Rename, replace the "zip" text with "xlsx", and press Enter. Click Yes when prompted.
- Mac: Click the ZIP folder, click File, click Get Info, replace the "zip" text in the title with "xlsx", and press Return. Click Use .xlsx when prompted.
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Double-click the Excel file to open it. Now that you've removed password protection from the sheet, you'll be able to edit it as needed.
- If you receive an error that the Excel sheet is damaged, you probably removed extra code when attempting to remove the password protection algorithm. Repeat the above steps, making sure to only remove the text between the brackets (</>) and the brackets themselves.

Section 2 of 3:

Using Google Sheets

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Understand the limitations of this method. This method should work to remove a password on a sheet, though it may or may not work to remove a password protecting a workbook. In our testing, using the Google Sheets method removed both types of protection from an Excel workbook, but you may experience different results.
- If you don't have a Google account, go to drive.google.com and make one. Once you create an account, you should be directed to Google Drive, which you'll need to access Google Sheets.
To do this, click + New in the upper-left corner, then click File upload. Choose your Excel file and upload it to Google Drive.
It will open up in Google Sheets, but it's still considered an Excel file (.xlsx).
Google will convert the Excel file to a Google Sheets file and open it in a new tab.
A contextual menu will pop up.
A dialog box will pop up, asking where you want to save your file.
Choose the folder you want to save it to (it'll go to your Downloads folder by default). You can also rename the file if you want.
It should open without asking you for a password. You can double-check by going to the Review tab and ensuring that the Protect Sheet and Protect Workbook buttons don't say Unprotect.^{[8]
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Section 3 of 3:

Troubleshooting

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First, make sure Caps Lock isn't pressed while you type your password. If you don't have Caps Lock enabled and you're certain you are typing the password correctly, you can use one of the above methods to remove the password protection from your file.
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Excel says my password-protected spreadsheet is corrupted. If you have Malwarebytes, you may be encountering a bug in the interaction between these two programs.
- Open Malwarebytes and go to Settings > Security > Exploit Protection > Advanced Settings > Application Behavior Protection.
- Scroll until you find "Excel macro 4.0 abuse prevention."
- Uncheck any boxes next to this option.
- Click Apply to save your settings.

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Question

Can I save the excel sheet in .CSV format then open in Excel?

Marry.M.Chen

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Yes, you can do that, save the excel sheet in .CSV format and open in Excel.

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What do I do if I get an error extracting a ZIP file?

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The ZIP file itself may have a password rather than the spreadsheet; you can't use this method to crack the password. Try the methods in Remove the Password from a Zip File Without Knowing the Password .

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What do I do if I can't open my password protected Excel file?

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Password crackers are the fastest and easiest option if you need to remove an Excel password. There are free password recovery tools, such as FreeWordExcel and Straxx. Unfortunately they have limited functionality, so if they won’t help in you that case, then you can try commercial software such as Excel password recovery master, Excel password recovery online services like Password-Find, there are a lot of options.

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Microsoft cannot recover lost Excel passwords for you.^{[9]
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In most cases, you won't be able to crack the password on an encrypted Excel file.

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Use these methods only if you are the file's owner or an authorized user. Cracking a password for a file that isn't yours is not only unethical but may also be illegal, depending on the file's contents and your location.

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