How to unprotect Excel sheet without

password
As mentioned in the beginning of this tutorial, Excel worksheet
protection is quite weak even in the recent versions of Excel
2013 and Excel 2016. If you need to edit a password
protected sheet but you cannot remember the password, try
to unlock that Excel spreadsheet by using one of the following
methods.

Unlock Excel spreadsheet with VBA code (for

Excel 2010 and lower)
If you are using Excel 2010 or older version, you can unlock a
password-protected sheet with the following macro.
1. Press Alt + F11 to open the Visual Basic Editor.
2. Right-click the workbook name on the left pane (Project-
VBAProject pane) and select Insert > Module from the
context menu.
3. In the window that appears, paste in the following code:
?
Sub PasswordBreaker()
'Breaks worksheet password protection.

Dim i As Integer, j As Integer, k As Integer

Dim l As Integer, m As Integer, n As Integer
Dim i1 As Integer, i2 As Integer, i3 As Integer
Dim i4 As Integer, i5 As Integer, i6 As Integer

On Error Resume Next

For i = 65 To 66: For j = 65 To 66: For k = 65 To 66

For l = 65 To 66: For m = 65 To 66: For i1 = 65 To 66
For i2 = 65 To 66: For i3 = 65 To 66: For i4 = 65 To 66
 For i5 = 65 To 66: For i6 = 65 To 66: For n = 32 To 126

ActiveSheet.Unprotect Chr(i) & Chr(j) & Chr(k) & _

Chr(l) & Chr(m) & Chr(i1) & Chr(i2) & Chr(i3) & _
Chr(i4) & Chr(i5) & Chr(i6) & Chr(n)

If ActiveSheet.ProtectContents = False Then

MsgBox "One usable password is " & Chr(i) & Chr(j) & _
Chr(k) & Chr(l) & Chr(m) & Chr(i1) & Chr(i2) & _
Chr(i3) & Chr(i4) & Chr(i5) & Chr(i6) & Chr(n)

Exit Sub

End If

Next: Next: Next: Next: Next: Next

Next: Next: Next: Next: Next: Next
End Sub
4. Press F5 or click the Run button on the toolbar and wait a
couple of minutes. The macro will report a cracked
password, which is not the original one (always some
combination of A's and B's), but nevertheless it works.
If you are not very comfortable with VBA, you can find the
detailed guidance in the following tutorial: How to insert and
run VBA code in Excel.
If you need to unprotect Excel sheet without password in the
modern versions of Excel 2013 and Excel 2016, try one of
free tools, for example Password Protection Remover add-in
for Excel.

Copy the protected sheet contents to another

worksheet
Another way (or rather a workaround) to unlock an Excel
sheet that was protected with password is to copy its entire
contents to a new sheet. Here's how:
1. Open the password-protected sheet.
 2. With the cursor positioned in cell A1, press Shift + Ctrl +
End to select all used cells in the worksheet.
3. Press Ctrl + C to copy the selected cells.
4. Create a new sheet in the current workbook or in a different
workbook (to create a new Excel file, simply press Ctrl + N).
5. In the new blank worksheet, place the cursor in A1 and
press Ctrl + V to paste the contents of the password-
protected sheet.
Notes:
 This method works only if the Select locked cells and Select
unlocked cells actions are allowed in the protected
spreadsheet.
 If the password-protected worksheet has external links to
other sheets or workbooks, you may need to re-create those
links manually.
 You can use Paste Special to copy / paste the column widths
so you won't need to adjust them in the new sheet manually.