Cracking a Password Protected Excel Sheet

PLEASE CONSIDER WHO IS ASKING YOU TO CRACK A WORKBOOK AND WHO THE CREATOR OF THE WORKBOOK IS BEFORE PROCEEDING WITH THE FOLLOWING

• If the person asking you to crack the workbook/sheet is not the creator, reach out to the creator to understand why it's protected and let them know who is trying to make the change, and what change they are trying to make.

• If the workbook was accidently locked, and no one knows the password, then you can proceed with the following.

Prep for .xlsx files

• 1) Save the document as an Excel 97-2003 workbook (.xls) first.

• 2) Close Excel

• 3) Reopen the workbook

• A) It should open in compatibility mode.

Cracking a password protected Excel Sheet

• 1) Once you have the workbook open, press Alt+F11 to open the Visual Basic Editor.

• 2) Identify the sheet that is protected along the top lefthand side of the editor window.

• 3) Right click the sheet in question

• 4) Go to Insert -> Module

• 5) Paste in the following code:

• A) Sub PasswordBreaker() 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 “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

• 6) Click Run

• 7) Repeat steps 2-6 for each sheet that's protected.

• NOTE: After the script finishes running, it won't give you any kind of confirmation that it has completed. You'll just have to try the sheet again and confirm that it's no longer protected.

• Once you're done, you can save the .xls file as a .xlsx, make the changes and protect the workbook again if desired.

Option 2 Uploading to Google Sheets

• If the 3rst guide doesn't work for try uploading the sheet to google sheets and then download back into an excel file.

• 1) Open Google Sheets

• 2) Start a Blank sheet

• 3) Click File

• a) Click Import

• b) Click upload (upload excel file)

• 4) Click Import Data

• 5) Click File

• 6) Click Download

• 7) Click Microsoft Excel