How to open Password Protected Excel File (No Software & 100% Free)

If you have a protected Excel document you can very easily access that file without knowing the password.

[mhkalinsky]

This works like a charm. IF YOU'RE HAVING ISSUES GETTING THE XML FILE TO GIVE YOU THE OPTION TO "OPEN WITH", drag the xml "page file" to your desktop. Then Right Click -> Open with -> Notepad. Once in Notepad, click EDIT -> FIND. Type "password", which makes it so you don't have to search through all the mumbo-jumbo. Clear the the contents as he shows in the video. Save the file and close it. Drag it back to the extraction folder. Exit out of everything and rename the file back to xlsx. And that should be it. Once it works, you can delete the XML file you dragged to your desktop that is still there. This works in windows 10, and I'm pretty sure you don't need an extraction tool, as windows 10 has one built in.

[t.godspell]

Fantastic trick and was easy. I was one of the those who doesn't show the XL folder and the post on the comments made me find its way. Kudos to the uploader and those who commented.

[memenoz]

You just saved my LIFE!! it worked !! I typed the password wrong and couldn't guess it. I have a presentation tomorrow morning and without you I wouldn't be able to do it!! Actually I would be jobless by the afternoon :'D Thank you

[TheAndjelika]

Thank you. Actually, it is even better to remove whole XML block about sheet protection, because in some new version it has been made using more logic. If you remove whole <Sheet protection > it will work.

[kelvinwilson]

You are a gentleman, and with 435, 277 views, it is criminal that you don't have 435, 277 Likes. Great work.

[atulthakurinbox]

Do Not Mislead.. with the title.
You are solving the problem of Excel Sheet not File? How to open the excel file?

[pyancey]

I'm using 2016 and it wouldn't give me the RL folder but it turns out i had to re-save the file as an XLSX and then it worked!
Thanks for sharing!

[XoticGardener]

Bro Ur Like God To me i've unlocked important excel sheet .... thank you very much i've watched lot of videos but not perfected
but ur video is very clean and neat content God Bless u

[townhousecookingwiththepro]

Thank you so much. I did it for excel 2013 and "password" was not in the file, but sheet protection was and worked great

[xtomithy]

this is how to crack a SHEET, not a FILE. if you have a locked FILE you cannot open the document at all. you cannot put in code. this is inaccurate.

[christiandebellefeuille]

the title is misleading. Its not to Open Protected Excel File. It should be "How to unprotect password protected Excel SHEET"... because if the file require a password to open the document, you won, t see any of these folders & files in the .zip.

[ThePhuku]

This didn't work exactly as you described, but you gave me enough information to get it to work. Thank you so much.

[brittonnick]

Thanks. Didn't work on .xls so I opened the xls in excel, saved it as an xlsx, then did the rest as you suggested. Worked great.

[okamichan]

I’ve been trying to crack a worksheet in one of my files for a while. This worked for what I needed it for!

[anasezz]

PRO TIP: Delete the whole <sheetProtection/> tag so you don't have to click "Unprotect Sheet" when you open it.

[fawaznizamdeen]

This helps alot...it worked for me...if there are multiple sheets, you need to do this on all the sheet's xml.

[AmeenRabea]

this is not working now. The protected excel file now is encrypted with the password as encryption key. So .. you won't find the files you are showing in the video.
When I open the file with 7-zip I got the follwing:
[6]DataSpaces <-- Folder
EncryptionInfo <-- File
EncryptedPackage <-- File

[ShwampDonkey]

Way to get straight to it thank you. Any thoughts on what to do if I don't have the "open with" option?

[puneetvishnoi]

Thanks for the helpful video. This method worked for me. Is there a method using which I can create VBA (or similar) or Sheet that cannot be hacked?

[LiveRecords]

Still works for me today in office 2013.I just replaced all SHA encryption bullsh*t After "SheetProstection SHA-..." to " password="" " until there is writen "Sheets=....