Microsoft Excel makes our life super easy with its useful data processing features. Business people and students can create their desired data chart with the help of this Excel application.
When our Excel sheets contain some sensitive information, we must protect it with a password for security purposes. Adding a password in Excel is easy, but removing the password from Excel can be challenging.
Often after adding a password to our Excel sheet, we forget about them. Don’t worry. In this article, I displayed how to add or remove a password and the way of recovering an Excel password if you have lost it.
So don’t skip any part of this article if you want to learn Excel’s password adding and removal process.
Let’s start!
How Secure is Microsoft Excel Password Protection?
Microsoft Excel password protection is very secure and trustworthy because it uses the AES-256 security patch. This patch makes your password close to unbreakable. You must ensure that your password is long enough and stuffed with strong characters.
The more solid characters are on your password, the more secure the password becomes. So include the (!@#$%^&*) unique characters in your password to make it unbreachable. If possible, you must try to make your password longer than the expected size.
Most importantly, make a strong password and note it down for further use. Your unbreakable password will not come of any help if you can’t remember it. Therefore write down the password to a secure place and protect it for the future.
Read through this article to learn how to add or remove an Excel password and find out what to do when you forget the password.
Check out our separate post on how to MS Excel Lock a Cell.
How to Add a Password in Microsoft Excel on Windows & Mac
You can add a password to your specific Excel sheet with the help of two methods. The first is to use the Info section, and the other is to utilize the Review menu. Both of the processes are demonstrated below for your assistance.
Here are the steps to add a password in MS Excel:
1. Use the Info Section to Add an Excel Password
With the help of the Info section, users can quickly add a password to their Excel sheet. To learn how you can do that, follow the steps carefully.
Here are the steps to use the info section to add an Excel password:
On Windows OS:
- Open the specific MS Excel sheet.
- Move to the File menu.
- Select the Info section.
- Click on the Protect Workbook box.
- Select the Encrypt with Password option.
- Enter your desired Password in the Password box and hit the OK key.
- Confirm the Password when the Confirmation window appears.
- Click on the OK box.
- Save the Excel sheet.
Here’s a complete guide on how to Lock and Unlock Cells in Excel.
On Mac OS:
- Open the MS Excel spreadsheet.
- Navigate to the File section.
- Choose the Passwords option.
- Enter the Password you want to set and Re-Enter it to Confirm.
- Hit the OK button and Save the file.
Password protection is set up on your desired MS Excel Spreadsheet.
Using the Review section, you can set up a new password for your Excel sheet. Let’s find out how to add a password on Excel with the Review menu.
Here are the steps to utilize the review menu to add a password on MS Excel:
- Launch the Microsoft Excel program.
- Move to the Review section.
- Select the Protect Sheet or Protect Workbook option.
- Enter your Password to set up a new one, then Re-Enter the Password to complete the process.
- Click on the OK button and Save the document.
Your desired MS Excel sheet is password protected now, and you can open this sheet anytime with the newly set password.
Follow our guide on how to Mail Merge in Outlook with Excel & Word.
How to Remove Password from MS Excel Sheet in Windows & Mac
Removing the password from an encrypted Excel sheet can be complicated. But in this article, I will show you 3 quick yet functioning methods by which you can easily remove a password from your MS Excel Sheet.
1. Use the Info Section
As you know from the previous heading, you can add a password with the info section. To remove this password, you just need to reverse the previous process. Let’s sort out how to do that.
Here are the steps to use the Info section to remove the password:
On Windows:
- Open the Microsoft Excel File and click on the File section.
- Move to the Info menu.
- Click on the Protect Workbook option.
- Select the Encrypt with Password menu.
- Clear the Password from the password box.
- Press the OK key and Save the File for further use.
Now at the bottom right side of the Protect Workbook section, you can see the Unprotected hyperlink.
On Mac:
- Launch the Excel sheet.
- Navigate to the File menu.
- Select the Passwords section.
- Clear the Password Box.
- Hit the OK Butt0n.
- Save the File.
Password protection no longer remains on your desired Excel Sheet.
Check out our separate post on Highlight Duplicate Values in Excel.
You can remove the existing password from the Review section of an Excel Sheet. To complete the removal process, you must check out the instructions below.
Here are the steps to remove a password with the Review menu:
- Start the MS Excel application.
- Navigate to the Review section.
- Select the Unprotect Sheet options.
- Enter your Password to remove your current password.
- Hit the OK key.
Alternatively, you can follow the below steps.
- Move to the Home section.
- Expand the Format section.
- Select the Unprotect Sheet option.
- Enter your Password.
- Click on the OK key.
This operation will remove your current password from your specific Excel sheet.
You may also like to read: how to Install Macro in Excel.
3. Apply the Save As Option
In order to remove the password from your MS Excel sheet, you can use the Save As option. A detailed description of this method is stated below.
Here are the steps to remove the password from MS Excel with the Save As menu:
- Enter into the password-protected Excel file.
- Click on the File menu.
- Select the Save As option.
- Click on the Browse section and select your desired place where you want to save the Excel file.
- Expand the Tools section from the Save As pop-up window.
- Choose the General options menu.
- Clear both of the Password boxes from the General Options window.
- Hit the OK key.
- Save the File.
You successfully removed the password from your particular MS Excel sheet.
For all the above-displayed methods, you must remember your password. But if you forget your password, follow the next heading, where I will show you the technique with which you can easily remove your Excel password without knowing the existing password.
How to Remove Password from MS Excel Without Knowing the Password
We all know the proverb TO ERR IS HUMAN, which means mistakes are in our nature. Suppose you made a mistake because you forgot your Excel password.
Don’t worry; it happens every now and then with all of us. So let’s find out how you can remove your password from MS Excel when you can’t remember your actual password.
Here are the steps to remove the password from Excel without knowing the password:
1. Make a Zip File and Create an Alternative File
You can make a zip file from the protected Excel sheet and modify this zip to remove the password. By creating an alternative file, you can access your desired Excel document without any password.
Here are the steps to make a zip file to remove the Excel password:
- Go to the File Explorer and check the File name extensions checkbox from the Dropdown View section.
- Move to the folder where your protected Excel files are located.
- Change the Extension from .xlsx to .zip.
- Click on the YES button when a Warning window appears.
- Extract and Open the ZIP file.
- Entered into the folder named xl and Double click on the worksheets file.
- Select the sheet1.xml file.
- Drag the file into File Explorer to copy.
- Open the File in Notepad.
- Type Ctrl+F buttons to open the Search tool on Notepad and search for the Protection word.
- Highlight the < portion to > portion of the Search result.
- Press the Delete or Backspace buttons to remove the selected part.
- Save and Close the Notepad file.
- Copy the Changed file and Paste it into the worksheet folder from where you dragged the file the first time.
- Click the OK button when the Archive name and parameter window appears.
- Close the ZIP file.
- Change the File Extension from .zip to .xlsx and hit the YES key when the Warning window pops up.
- Open your desired Excel sheet.
You can see that password protection from the Excel sheet is gone, and now you can modify the sheet.
2. Use Third-Party Apps
Using a third-party app, you can easily remove the password from an MS Excel sheet. A third-party app can solve your problem and save you a lot of time. There are several apps on the market with which you can remove your Excel password.
Here is the list of some third-party apps that can remove your Excel password:
- Password Find.
- LostMyPass.
- Password-Online.
- Straxx Excel Password Remover.
All the stated apps can help you but keep in mind that third-party apps are malicious and risky. Also, they contain several bugs and glitches and can harm your device.
So my recommendation is not to use any third-party apps because they are unsafe. Instead, you can follow the methods I mentioned earlier to solve your password removal issue.
FAQs
How do you make a read-only file editable in MS Excel?
You need to remove the read-only function if you want to make a read-only file editable in MS Excel. Right-click on the File, select the Properties option, Uncheck the Read-only checkbox, and hit the OK button.
What would happen if you tried to remove a read-only file in MS Excel?
Nothing will happen when you try to remove a read-only file from MS Excel.
What does chmod 666 code mean in MS Excel?
The chmod 666 code in MS Excel means that everyone can Read and Write the program, but no one can Run the program.
Bottom Line
MS Excel is a program that is immensely used worldwide for its compact build and handy features.
However, an inbuilt password protection option is available on the Excel app. With the help of this function, you can easily add or remove an Excel password. You can use the Info section or the Review menu to remove or add a password.
Also, applying the Save As option can come in handy to remove a specific password from the Excel program. I guess you already know that because, in this article, I exhibited all the available methods in detail.
Let me know your afterthought in the comment section; until then, Bye!
