People use password protection on their Microsoft Excel files to prevent unauthorized access and editing, along with that it also offers features such as “Read-Only’ flag that warns and stop you from editing the file. However, it is not a big deal that people often forget their password, if you are facing the same problem and locked out of your important data then follow this brief guide on how to hack Excel password. You can use these methods for hacking passwords of both workbooks and spreadsheets.
Solution 1: Hack Excel Password with VBA Code
This method involves using VBA editor to execute a snippet of code which can remove password protection from your Microsoft Excel file. Follow the below instructions carefully to apply this Excel password hack:
For Excel 2003:
Step 1: Open your protected worksheet in Microsoft Excel like any normal file
Step 2: Hold down “ALT+F11”, it will open Microsoft Visual Basic for Application window interface.
Step 3: Click “Insert>Module” and then paste the below code in the Module Window, this code will be used to unlock the Excel file.
Sub PasswordRecovery()
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
Step 4: Once pasted, click “F5” to execute this code, prompt screen will appear then click “OK” to close it and your password will be canceled shortly.
Solution 2: Hack Excel Password with ZIP Software
This solution is one of the simplest ones, if you want to know how to hack Excel password then you should probably try this out. Basically, you will have to edit some text by opening the file with help of Zip compression tool like WinRAR or 7-Zip.
For Excel 2003:
Step 1: Download and Install ZIP supported compression program like 7-Zip
Step 2: Open the Excel file using 7-Zip, you can do that by right clicking the file and opening it with 7-Zip program, you will see several files and folders.
Step 3: Now find “xl” folder and right click on “workbook.xml” and select “Edit”, this will open the file in notepad or any other editor you have installed.
Step 4: Find and Remove this tag completely and close the editor
“<workbookProtection workbookPassword="93AF" lockStructure="1" lockWindows="1"/>”
Step 5: 7-Zip will prompt to replace the existing XML file, select “Yes” to save modified version of Excel file.
Step 6: If you have password protection on worksheet then navigate to ‘’xl\worksheets\sheet1.xml” and remove the tag “<sheetProtection … >” instead to remove password from worksheet.
Step 7: Now open the Excel file, your password will be removed.
For Excel 2007/2010:
Step 1: Find the “.xlsx” file on your computer and change its extension to “.zip”.
Step 2: Right click the file and click “Extract All”, it will create some folders like shown in below picture.
Step 3: Open “xl” folder and then “worksheets” folder, find the sheet you want to unlock then right click it and click “Edit”.
Step 4: Now press “Ctrl+f” and type ‘’sheetprotection/workbookprotection” and delete the whole tag line
Step 5: Save it, and then open the file.
For Excel 2016:
Step 1: Open the VBA, by opening the locked file and press “Alt + F11” and double click sheet you want to unlock
Step 2: It will open a declaration page, now paste code snippet given below.
Sub PasswordRecovery()
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
Step 3: Now, you need to run the macro either by clicking “Run menu > Run Macro” or simply pressing “F5” key
Step 4: Password will be shown, you can use to unlock your file.
Solution 3: Hack Excel Password with PassFab for Excel
PassFab for Excel is our recommended method if you want to know how to hack Excel password protected file, one of the best tool available for hacking Excel password. It features three different types of brute force attacks used as Excel spreadsheet password hack. It also supports multi CPUs and GPUs for greater performance and supports all versions of Microsoft Excel files. You can open your locked workbooks and spreadsheets both by hacking password with this program, follow the below instructions to do so:
Step 1: Open the program. You will see its main interface.
Step 2: Now click “Add” to import to import Excel spreadsheet whose password you want to recover.
Step 3: There are 3 types of attack available, Brute force, Brute force with mask, Brute force with dictionary. Choose the attack type and set parameters accordingly.
Note: Dictionary Attack can be used when you already have a dictionary file, Brute force with Mask attack let you crack the password with whatever you remember, Brute force attack will try all the combinations to unlock the password.
Step 4: Click “Start”, this will initiate brute force attack, it may take time according to password length and complexity.
Step 5: Your password will be cracked once the attack is complete and a window will pop up having the password.
This sums up our guide on how to hack Excel passwords to unlock worksheets and spreadsheets, we have listed some of the best methods which are applicable to different versions of Microsoft Excel. We have also recommended all in one best tool for brute force hacking, you can unlock any Excel file you want with it.