How to remove a password in Excel

  • Password protecting an Excel file is crucial to keeping your information private.
  • It is possible to remove the password if you know it, although it can be difficult if you forget it.
  • Protection can be applied to the entire file or just to individual sheets.
  • Microsoft has been using AES encryption methods since 2007, providing high security for documents.

excel password

Protect an Excel file with a password It is a very effective way to keep these types of documents safe. This can be done individually (for example, just one or two spreadsheets) or protect the entire file. Just as important is knowing how remove excel password to be able to access the document again. That is what we are going to explain in this post.

To remove the protection in Excel, it is necessary to know the password that was used at the time. It's not complicated. However, everything becomes more difficult when we have forgotten the password or it has not been provided to us. Depending on the case in question, it can be a more or less complex task. Or directly impossible. But it's worth a try some solutions.

There is a better chance of success when there is only password encryption for individual spreadsheets. In all other cases, removing the password in Excel can be a difficult task. After all, it is something that is done so that the content of the file cannot be modified without permission or by mistake.

Password
Related article:
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But to learn how to remove a password in Excel, it is essential to first know how to put it:

Put a password in Excel

excel password

A password or password can be used to protect an Excel file in its entirety or only some of its sheets. This is how to proceed in each case:

the complete document

These are the steps to follow to protect an Excel document completely:

  1. First of all, we open the Excel file that we want to protect.
  2. Then we go to the menu "Archive" and there we select "Information".
  3. In the following options that appear, we select the one of "Protect book."
  4. Then we choose "Encrypt with password" and fill in the corresponding boxes with the password we want.

individual elements

When we want to keep access open to an Excel document and only protect some of the elements that make it up, for example some of its columns, this is what to do:

  1. To begin, we select with the mouse the columns of the document that we want to protect.
  2. In the new menu that is displayed, we choose the option "Cell format".
  3. Then we click on "Protect" and we deactivate the "Blocked" option that is marked by default.
  4. Next we go to the menu "Check" (it is at the top) and there we choose the option of "Protect sheet".
  5. It is at this point that you have to enter lock password y
  6. Finally, confirm the action by pressing "To accept".

Remove a password in Excel

remove password excel

Now let's see how to remove the password in Excel contemplating the two assumptions: if we know or do not know the password. And in the second case, if it is a total or partial protection.

If we know the password

That would be the ideal assumption. Knowing the password makes the whole process much easier. These are the steps to follow in each case:

Complete document

  1. First we open the Excel file that we have protected with the password. (To do so, you will need to enter that password.)
  2. Then we select "File".
  3. From there we go to "Information".
  4. In the menu, we choose the option "Protect Book" and then "Encrypt with password".
  5. At this point, a dialog window opens to enter the password. there we have to clear password that appears.

After doing this, the Excel document will be unprotected, without a password. It should be noted that this has its advantages, but also some drawbacks that we should not ignore: anyone who accesses the file will be able to modify it.

individual sheets

This is the method to unprotect a specific Excel sheet and thus allow any user to modify it:

  1. We open the sheet and, in the toolbar, we go to the menu "Review".
  2. There we select the option "Unprotect sheet".
  3. At this point a box appears in which you have to enter the password. That is all.

What if we don't know the password?

All these methods are quite effective when the Excel password is known. But what options do we have when we don't have it? The answer is definitive: it is impossible you can decrypt an excel file without password.

Since the release of the 2007 version, Microsoft began using AES encryption methods in your Office suite. It is a system that offers a high level of protection, so much so that it is even used by the United States government to protect classified documents. The bad part of this is that we will not be able to remove the password from a document: the positive reading, on the other hand, is that we will be able to protect our documents against any attack.

For the same reasons, it is important to be very careful when choosing a password for our Excel documents. And even more when remembering it. If we lose it, forget it, or share it with someone unreliable, we can permanently lose access to the information we want to protect.


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