I am trying to unprotect a 2010 excel file. Every time I click the review tab, the changes tab, and the unprotect sheet tab and put in my protectedpassword (twice) it changes correctly to "protect file" but I still cannot open the file without puting in the password. I have tried several times, click save and exit the file. Everytime I call up the file again it reads"unprotect file". I have this file in my dropbox on my desktop and not on my hard drive. Is this the issue?

Please clarify; you said "Everytime I call up the file again it reads"unprotect file"" - is that on workbook open, and you can't access the file w/o entering your password?

If so, then you need to remove the workbook password, either via the Review tab or the File menu.

1-I click on the file I want to open and the password box comes up

2-I fill in the password and the file opens up

3- I then click the "review" tab

4-I then click the "changes" tab

5- I then click the "unprotect sheet" tab

6- It then asks me to put the password back in (sometimes it asks me twice to confirm)

7- After doing #6 the "unprotect sheet" tab changes to "protect sheet" (other replies have told me this is supposed to happen)

8- I then close out the file, but when I try to reopen it I get 1. above again - eventhough when I click on review and changes it now says "protect sheet"- very frustrating

Try removing the workbook password like I previously recommended.

Also, if the file is a .xlsm then it may have VBA that locks the sheet & workbook before the file closes.

I cant beleive that I have read so many responses and nobody actually know how to unprotect an Excel 2010 workbook. I have followed all tye instructions and none of them work.  you can easily protect a workbook but unprtecting seem to be impossible.

Man you are so right... Instructions say to click on the "unprotect" button - but there is none - it only says "protect" and it's already protected . What a nightmare!

I was facing the same issue, however was able to remove protection on the workbook using following method:

To Unprotect Workbook, use Select File & open Info tab, Permissions will list all the sheets that are protected, click Unprotect next to each sheet & enter password.

To remove the protection on workbook structure, click on the dropdown/button Protect workbook, and click on 'Protect Workbook Structure', if the structure is protected excel will prompt for the password.

Good Luck!

Not sure if any one addressed this. I was able to follow this simple steps to unprotect 2013 workbook. Below are the steps.

1. Open the workbook using the password.

2. File > Save as > Browse for the location you want to save

3. Click on Tools right next to the save button > generally you would find 4 dropdown options

4. Select "General options" out of this list

5. Clear the passwords in the pop-up window > Click OK

6. Save the file

• Proposed as answer by proshanth Tuesday, October 29, 2013 7:05 AM

I struggled with this for a while and then found a very simple way to unprotect the workbook. This is to remove a password on the whole workbook, called 'Encrypt the Workbook' in Excel 2010:

Go to: File --> Info

Click 'Protect Workbook'

Click 'Encrypt with Password'

Delete the password stored in the password bar, and click 'OK'

When encrypted, the padlock and key icon next to this option has an orange square around it, which disappears when the password is removed.

From my experience with protected Excels sheets -- I had a similar issue, plus I did not know the passwords locking the Excel sheets and the workbook. It's pretty easy to remove passwords in Excel if you know how the password looks like, but if you lost one - it's going to be quite a challenge to unprotect the file. On the web, I came across some VB scripts that allegedly could do the trick and strip the password off the sheets, but in my case, the VBA project was also inaccessible as I think the programmer who wrote the code locked it from opening. In such cases, the only way to unprotect the file I could find on the Internet was password recovery software and services. Unfortunately, most are not free, so note that you'll most likely have to pay to have the password removed. If you are looking for a safe tool, I can recommend one called "Password-find" which worked, at least in my case - the passwords were removed after I uploaded the protected files to their servers. Hope what I wrote helps!

InFixi Excel 2010 Password Recovery Software is instantly unprotect Excel 2010 File. This software is embedded with best features and advance techniques to Recover Excel 2010 Password. You can download demo version of this software from http://www.excelpasswordrecoverysoftware.org/

• Edited by Eliza Saya Thursday, May 08, 2014 4:45 AM Bold

This worked...thanks!!!

THIS ONE WORKS. 

THANKS

This worked for me.  Thanks for the help.

This helped me!!! Thank you!!!

Unfortunately this does not work for me and I can't find an answer anywhere.  

When I try to Save As and go to the Tools menu to remove the password, it is grayed out and i can't touch or delete the pw before saving it.  Likewise, if i go to File > Info > Protect Workbook, Everything on that sub-menu is grayed out as well so i can't get to "Encrypt with Password" to remove the password.  

I know what the pw is, I am IN the spreadsheet, I just can't remove the pw?!?!?  Any ideas???

Hi,

For users who meet the same issue and the suggestions above can't help you, please create a new thread in the forum so that you can get more dedicated support.

Regards,

Melon Chen
TechNet Community Su