How to unprotect an Excel that has a password

Password Protected Excel File

Unprotect a password protected Excel It can be a more or less complicated process depending on various factors. The security that Microsoft implements in the Office suite is one of the most secure, redundancy is worth it, since it is the most used application in the world to create documents.

When protect a document in both Excel and Word and PowerPoint, we have different options. Not only can we add an access code, but we can also protect the document to be edited and thus prevent copies of our document from circulating with modifications that have been implemented by us.

What can I protect in an Excel document

Protect sheet or workbook in Excel

Excel offers us two forms to protect our documents:

  • Protect book. This function is designed to prevent any other person from making any type of change in all the sheets that are part of an Excel document. .
  • Protect sheet. If we only want to protect one of the sheets that are part of an Excel file (such as the source of the data in a table) and leave the rest of the sheets in the Excel file unlocking, we can do so through this function.

Both functions are available in the top tape options, in the section Check, pulled apart Protect.

But also, regardless of the part of the document that we protect, we can unlock certain fields so that they can be modified through the option Allow edit ranges.

How to protect an Excel document

As I have commented in the previous paragraph, Excel offers us two ways to protect the documents we create with this application. Depending on the method we choose, we will be able to have access or not to the document both to view it and to make changes.

Avoid editing an Excel sheet

Password protect workbook in Excel

If what we want is to prevent the recipients of our Excel sheet from making modifications to it, we must make use of the function Protect sheet. This function is available within the upper ribbon of options, in the section Check, pulled apart Protect.

Before selecting this option, we must select the range of cells we want to protect. To do so, we just have to click on the upper left corner and without releasing the mouse drag it to the lower right corner where the data is located.

Next, click on the Protect sheet option. Next, we must enter password (2 times) that will allow us to edit the range of cells that we have selected.

Sometimes, not only the data is important, but also the format. Among the options to protect sheet, we can also prevent the recipients of the document from applying formatting to cells, columns and rows, inserting columns and rows, inserting links, eliminating rows or columns ...

Rows - pivot tables in Excel
Related article:
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Avoid editing an Excel workbook

Add password Excel sheet

To prevent anyone from modifying the entire content of an Excel document, we must access the upper ribbon of options, in the section Check, pulled apart Protect and select Protect Book.

Next, we must enter a password (2 times), password without which, no one will be able to make changes to the entire document, so we must always have it at hand, write it down in a password management application and / or share it with the people who will have access to the document.

Microsoft Excel
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How to password protect an Excel document

encrypt Excel documents

Do not confuse protecting a document from modifications with encrypt a document with password so that absolutely no one who does not have the password can access it. When encrypting a document with a password, if we do not know it, we will never be able to access its content.

The function of password encrypt a document You can combine the functions that allow us to protect a book or an edition sheet, since they are completely independent functions and not related to each other.

For add a password to an Excel document we must perform the following steps:

  • First, click on Archive to access the properties of the document that we want to protect.
  • Next, click on Information.
  • Then we click on Protect book and we write the password (2 times) that will protect access to the book.

It should be remembered that this password we must not lose it since we will lose the option to access it.

How to unlock an Excel with password

Unlock an Excel for editing

Unlock protected file

  • The simplest solution initially, goes through save the document in sheet formats calculation of other applications, such as the one offered by LibreOffice. However, being protected, we must enter it before performing the conversion.
  • The only format to which we can export the table to edit it later (it cannot take enough time) is PDF. By exporting it to this PDF we can later create a new Excel document with the function that allows us to know tables from images.
  • Copy and paste is the simplest solution. Although it may seem absurd, a method to be able to access the content protected against editing in an Excel file is to copy and paste the content in a new sheet, as long as that function has not been deactivated from the options offered by the function to protect it.

Unlock an Excel to read it

Password Protected Excel File

The encryption that Microsoft uses to protect the documents we create so that no one who does not have the key can access it is impossible to break, unless let's use brute force programs that are dedicated to testing passwords.

But for this, we need a lot of time, since the number of possible combinations is very high since there are no restrictions on the passwords we use regarding length (on Windows), characters or numbers. They are also case-sensitive. On Mac, the maximum size of passwords that we can use to protect a document is 15 characters.

Don't bother looking for solutions on the internet. If you do not know the password of the encrypted file, you will never be able to access it. Microsoft, as stated on its website, cannot help you unblock access to the file either, for the reasons I explained in the previous paragraph.


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