Unlock Excel 2016 Worksheet without Password

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An Excel worksheet is locked by its author with a specific password. Plus, the option for "Unprotect Sheet" in the "Review toolbar" is grey out.

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To resolve this problem, two things are needed:

• Enable the "Unprotected Sheet" under Review Tab:

  1. Unshare the workbook by selecting "Share Workbook" under Review Tab
  2. When the "Share Workbook" dialogue popup, in the "Editing" tab, uncheck "Allow change by more than one user at a time."

• Unlock the worksheet without password with VBA code Note: work with only Excel file version 2010 and lower

  1. Open VBA's macro editor with ALT + F11
  2. Double-click the password-protected sheet in the list
  3. Select "Insert" > "Module"
  4. Paste the following code:
  5. Run the code by clicking on "Run" icon or hitting F5
  6. After running, the usable code will pop up for you to unlock the sheet.

References: (1) https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/how-to-unprotect-sheet-if-greyed-out/e73fbb46-89c5-47b1-9470-196135e2890b (2) https://passper.imyfone.com/excel/unprotect-cells-in-excel/#m6

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VBA Code in Machine Readable format:

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

Reference: (1) https://www.instructables.com/id/VBA-Code-To-Unlock-A-Locked-Excel-Sheet/