This tool cannot be run from a local file or saved copy. It must be accessed from our website to ensure proper operation, security, and compliance with our terms of use.
Saving and running this page locally bypasses our terms acceptance mechanism — use of this tool requires accepting our disclaimer first.
→ Go to unlock-my-xlsx.com⚠ Terms Not Accepted By visiting unlock-my-xlsx.com you must read and explicitly accept our disclaimer and terms of use before any file can be processed. Running a saved copy circumvents this requirement and is not permitted.
Strip workbook structure locks, sheet passwords, protected ranges and VBA project locks from your Excel files. Everything runs inside your browser — no file ever leaves your device.
.XLS / .XLSX · Maximum 2 MB · Click to Browse
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This tool is provided on a best-effort basis at no cost. We make no guarantees regarding successful unlocking. Files protected with workbook-open AES encryption (Excel's "Encrypt with Password" feature) cannot be unlocked without the original password — this will be clearly stated when detected.
By using this tool you confirm you are the legitimate owner of the file or hold explicit authorisation to modify it. Circumventing protection on files you do not own may violate copyright law or computer misuse statutes. You bear full legal responsibility for your use of this tool.
Files are processed in browser memory only. No content is transmitted to any external server. Session data is automatically destroyed after 5 minutes or on page close. Read our full Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
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Drop or browse for your .xls / .xlsx file. Max 2 MB.
Tool scans workbook structure, sheet locks, VBA, and protected ranges.
Protection nodes are stripped and the file is rebuilt clean.
Retrieve within 5 minutes. Session data is then automatically destroyed.
This tool removes four types of protection found in .xlsx and .xls files:
Sheet protection — locks specific sheets from editing, formatting, or sorting. Removed completely. Workbook structure protection — prevents adding, deleting, moving, or renaming sheets. Removed. Protected ranges — locks specific cell ranges within a sheet. All range protection nodes are stripped. VBA project protection — password-locks the macro editor. The protection attribute is removed from the VBA storage.
It cannot remove workbook-open encryption (the "Encrypt with Password" feature in Excel) — that requires the original password and cannot be bypassed without it. The tool will tell you clearly if it detects this type.
No. Your file never leaves your device. All processing happens entirely inside your browser using JavaScript and the SheetJS library. The file is read into browser memory, the protection attributes are stripped from the XML structure, and the modified file is handed back to you as a download — all without any network request.
You can verify this yourself: open your browser's network inspector (F12 → Network), upload a file, and observe that zero outbound requests are made during processing. The session data is also automatically destroyed after 5 minutes or when you close the tab.
Excel sheet protection was designed as a collaboration tool, not a security measure. Microsoft's own documentation states that sheet protection is not intended to make your data secure — it is meant to prevent accidental edits by colleagues who are sharing a workbook.
The protection is stored as a simple hash attribute in the XML files inside the .xlsx container. It prevents casual modification through the Excel interface, but does not encrypt the underlying data. This is why it can be removed by directly editing the XML — which is exactly what this tool does programmatically.
If you need to genuinely secure data in a spreadsheet, use workbook-open encryption (File → Info → Protect Workbook → Encrypt with Password). That uses AES-256 encryption and cannot be bypassed without the password.
Yes — unlocking your own files is entirely legal. If you created the file, inherited it from a colleague, or received it as part of a legitimate work handover, you have every right to remove protection that is blocking your access to your own data.
The disclaimer on this page exists because the tool cannot verify ownership. By accepting the terms before processing, you confirm that you are the legitimate owner or have authorisation to modify the file. Using this tool on files you do not own or are not authorised to access may violate computer misuse laws in your jurisdiction — that responsibility lies with the user, not the tool.
There are two common reasons:
1. Workbook-open encryption — if the file requires a password just to open it, the data is AES-encrypted and cannot be read without that password. This is fundamentally different from sheet protection and cannot be bypassed. You will need the original password.
2. File is corrupt or not a valid .xlsx/.xls — renamed files, files saved in unusual formats, or partially corrupted files may fail to parse. Try re-saving the file from Excel first, then re-upload.
If neither applies, the file may use an older binary format (.xls pre-2003) with a protection scheme not supported by the current parser. Try opening it in Excel and saving as .xlsx before uploading.
Yes. The tool only modifies the protection-related XML nodes inside the .xlsx container. All cell data, formulas, charts, pivot tables, conditional formatting, named ranges, and styles are completely untouched.
The output file is a valid .xlsx that can be opened directly in Excel, Google Sheets, LibreOffice, or any other spreadsheet application. It is functionally identical to the original — just without the protection locks.
The current limit is 2 MB. This covers the vast majority of real-world spreadsheets — a typical business Excel file with hundreds of rows and multiple sheets is usually well under 500 KB. Files only grow large when they contain embedded images, charts with large datasets, or thousands of rows of data.
If your file exceeds 2 MB, try removing unnecessary sheets, images, or data before re-uploading. There are no other limits — the tool is completely free, no account required, and you can process multiple files in a session.
Microsoft Excel offers several distinct layers of protection, each designed for a different purpose. Understanding which type is applied to your file is the first step to knowing whether it can be removed without a password — and whether this tool will work for your situation.
Sheet protection is the most common type. It is applied per-sheet via Review → Protect Sheet and prevents users from editing cells, formatting rows, inserting columns, sorting data, or using pivot tables — depending on which options were checked when the protection was set.
Despite requiring a password to set, sheet protection is stored as a simple salted hash in the sheet's XML file. It does not encrypt the data — the spreadsheet's contents are fully readable whether or not protection is active. This is why it can be removed by editing the XML directly, which is what this tool does.
Applied via Review → Protect Workbook, this prevents changes to the workbook's structure: adding or deleting sheets, moving or renaming them, hiding or unhiding. It is commonly used in templates where the sheet layout must stay fixed.
Like sheet protection, workbook structure protection is stored as a hash attribute in the workbook XML and does not encrypt data. It can be fully removed by this tool.
A more granular form of sheet protection, protected ranges allow different passwords for different cell ranges within the same sheet. Some ranges may be editable while others are locked. This is common in shared budget spreadsheets where different teams can edit only their own section.
This tool strips all protected range definitions from the XML, making every cell in the sheet freely editable after unlocking.
| Protection Type | Encrypts Data? | This Tool? | Typical Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sheet Protection | No | ✓ Yes | Prevent accidental edits |
| Workbook Structure | No | ✓ Yes | Lock sheet layout |
| Protected Ranges | No | ✓ Yes | Per-range access control |
| VBA Project Lock | No | ✓ Yes | Hide macro code |
| Workbook-Open Password | Yes (AES-256) | ✗ No | Genuine file security |
An .xlsx file is a ZIP archive containing a collection of XML files. You can verify this yourself by renaming any .xlsx to .zip and opening it — you will find folders like xl/worksheets/ containing one XML file per sheet, plus xl/workbook.xml for the workbook structure.
Sheet protection is stored as a single XML attribute inside each sheet file, for example: <sheetProtection password="ABC1" sheet="1"/>. Removing this attribute — which is what this tool does — fully disables the protection without touching any cell data.
While the concept is simple, doing it manually requires unzipping the file, editing the correct XML nodes across potentially multiple sheets, rezipping with the correct compression settings, and ensuring the file relationship manifest is intact. One mistake produces a corrupt file Excel cannot open. This tool automates the entire process safely and reliably in seconds.
One of the most common reasons people need to remove Excel protection is receiving a spreadsheet from a colleague who has left the organisation — taking the password with them. This is a legitimate and extremely common business problem, particularly with template files, financial models, and reporting dashboards that have been in use for years.
If you protected a sheet months or years ago and no longer remember the password, you have not lost your data. Sheet protection passwords are not tied to your Microsoft account and cannot be recovered through any official channel — but they can be removed using this tool since the data itself is never encrypted.
Many Excel templates — from invoice generators to project trackers — ship with sheet protection to prevent accidental modification of formulas or formatting. If you need to adapt a template for your specific use case, removing the protection is the standard first step.