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How to remove a password from an Excel file

First work out which password you have

"Remove the password from my Excel file" can mean three different jobs, and two of them are easy while the third is impossible without the password. Identify yours before you try anything:

The file opens, but cells are read‑only. That is Protect Sheet — an edit lock on one worksheet. Removable.
The file opens, but you cannot add, delete, rename or unhide tabs. That is Protect Workbook structure — an edit lock on the set of sheets. Removable.
Excel demands a password before it shows anything. That is Encrypt with Password — AES encryption of the whole file. Not removable without the correct password.

The tell is simple: if you can see your data, the password is removable; if you cannot open the file at all, it is not.

Removing an edit‑protection password

Both sheet protection and workbook‑structure protection are stored as a hashed flag inside the file's XML, not as encryption of the data. Deleting the flag re‑enables editing without recovering the password:

Work on a copy so the original stays intact.
Drop the copy onto the unlock tool. It removes every <sheetProtection> and <workbookProtection> tag in your browser — no upload.
Download the result. Every cell and tab is editable again.

If you still have the password, you do not need any tool: Review → Unprotect Sheet (or Unprotect Workbook) removes it directly. Doing it by hand is the ZIP method.

Why a file‑open password cannot be removed

Encryption is a different mechanism entirely. When you set a password under Encrypt with Password, Excel runs the whole workbook through AES; without the key derived from the correct password, the bytes are meaningless and there is no tag to delete. No free tool, browser trick, or "remover" changes that — the only honest options are to enter the correct password or restore from a backup. This tool detects encrypted files from their signature and refuses them rather than pretend. See how to tell an edit lock from encryption if you are unsure which you have.

Unlock it in seconds instead

The manual route works, but our free in‑browser tool does the same thing in one drop — nothing is uploaded, everything runs on your device.

Unlock your file now →

Frequently asked

How do I know if my Excel password can be removed at all?

Try to open the file. If it opens and you can read the data, the password is edit protection and can be removed without recovering it. If Excel refuses to open the file without a password, that is AES encryption and cannot be removed.

Can I remove the password without knowing it?

For edit protection, yes — it is a flag, so it is deleted rather than recovered. For file-open encryption, no — the correct password is genuinely required to decrypt the workbook.

Will removing the password affect formulas or macros?

No. Only the protection flags are removed. Cell values, formulas, formatting and VBA macros are left byte-for-byte unchanged.