Unprotect Excel Sheet
Remove sheet protection, workbook locks, and read-only passwords without knowing the password. Your file never leaves your device.
100% private. Your files are processed locally in your browser and never uploaded to our servers.
What this removes
Excel has five separate editing locks, and people hit them without knowing which one they have. This tool strips all of them in one pass:
- Worksheet protection. The one behind "The cell or chart you're trying to change is on a protected sheet."
- Workbook structure protection. Stops you adding, deleting, renaming, moving, or unhiding sheets.
- Window protection. Stops you resizing or rearranging the workbook's windows.
- Protected ranges. Individual cell ranges with their own passwords, separate from the sheet's.
- Read-only recommendation and write reservation. The prompt demanding a password before Excel will save your changes.
Your data, formulas, formatting, charts, pivot tables, and macros come back exactly as they went in. The only bytes that change are the lock settings themselves.
What it can't remove
A password required to open the file. That password encrypts the workbook's contents with AES. Without it there is nothing to read, let alone edit. Drop the file in anyway and this tool will tell you that's what you have, rather than failing with a vague error.
VBA project protection. The lock on viewing macro source code lives in a separate binary part of the file. This tool reports nothing about it and leaves it alone.
Sheet protection, workbook protection, and encryption are three different things
Most confusion here comes from Excel using the word "password" for all three.
| Lock | What you see | Removable |
|---|---|---|
| Sheet protection | File opens, cells refuse to change | Yes |
| Workbook structure | Sheet tabs greyed out, can't unhide | Yes |
| Read-only / write reservation | Password prompt when you try to save | Yes |
| Encryption (open password) | Password prompt before anything opens | No |
The first three are settings recorded inside the file. The fourth changes the file into ciphertext. That is the whole difference, and it is why no browser tool can promise the fourth.
How it works
An .xlsx file is a ZIP archive of XML documents. Sheet protection is one line in a sheet's XML, and the password you set is never stored: Excel keeps only a hash to check typed guesses against. Nothing in the sheet is encrypted by it.
So this tool opens the archive, deletes the specific elements that record each lock, and writes the archive back. It never rebuilds your workbook, which is why macro-enabled .xlsm files survive intact where a converter would strip them. Every other byte is passed through untouched.
All of that runs in your browser using JavaScript. Nothing is uploaded, so a confidential workbook stays on your machine.
Is this legal?
On a file you own or are authorised to edit, yes. The realistic cases are the common ones: a colleague protected a sheet and left the company, a template you built years ago, a workbook whose password was set once and never written down.
Sheet protection was designed to stop accidental edits, not to secure data against someone determined. Microsoft is explicit about this, which is why the password is stored as a hash rather than used to encrypt anything. Use this on files you have the right to change.
Questions
Does this change my data?
No. Values, formulas, formatting, charts, and pivot tables are untouched. Only the lock settings are deleted.
Does it unprotect every sheet or just one?
Every protected sheet in the workbook, in a single pass. The summary lists each one it unlocked.
Will my macros still work?
Yes. Drop in an .xlsm and you get an .xlsm back with the VBA project byte-for-byte identical.
Why does it say my file is encrypted?
Because Excel asks for a password before it will open the file, not just before it will let you edit. That password encrypts the contents and cannot be removed without knowing it.
Can it recover the original password?
No, and nothing else can either. Excel stores a hash, not the password. This tool sidesteps the check entirely by deleting the lock rather than satisfying it.
What about .xls files?
The legacy binary format isn't supported. Open it in Excel, save it as .xlsx, then come back. You can also use our Excel to CSV converter if you only need the data out.
Are my files uploaded anywhere?
No. Everything happens in your browser. You can confirm it by disconnecting from the network and using the tool anyway.