How to Unprotect Cells in Excel: Top Solutions

You've a workbook or a spreadsheet in Excel that you want to share with others, but at the same time you don't want others to modify the Excel file. It might also happen that you only want others to modify only a few cells. Unlike Numbers, Microsoft Excel assists you in locking cells in various ways. You could lock the cells, cell ranges, columns, and rows.

However, if you need to correct the formula in a cell or would like to change some information, how would you unlock or unprotect cells in an Excel sheet?

In this blog, we are keen to introduce the most reliable ways to help you know how to unprotect cells in Excel.

Part 1: Locked vs Protected Cells

Before going into unprotected cells in the Excel sheet, you can see the tabular comparison of the protected sheet and locked cells.

Part 2: Unprotect Cells in Excel on Windows (Excel 2016/2019/365)

If you remember the password you set while protecting the cells in Excel, you won't have to work hard to unprotect cells in Excel on Windows.

Here's the detailed guide below to learn how to unprotect cells in Excel.

Step 1: Go to the Excel Workbook and then launch the worksheet with protected or locked cells.
Step 2: Move to the Review tab on the Ribbon and select Unprotected Sheet from the Changes group.
Step 3: Now, you're required to enter the password and then press OK. When the Excel sheets get unprotected, you'll be able to edit all the cells of Excel file.

Part 3: Unprotect Cells in Excel on Mac

If you're a Mac user and would like to unprotect cells in Excel on Mac, you've come to the right place. Although the method of unprotecting cells in Excel on Mac may be slightly different from doing the same in Windows, it doesn't take any extra effort from you.

Step 1: Open the Excel document and then choose the cells you want to unlock.
Step 2: Select Format Cells after right clicking and then move to where it says Protections.
Step 3: Now, you could uncheck the box that says locked and then hit OK to unprotect the cells in Excel.

Part 4: Unlock Specific Cells While Keeping Sheet Protected

It may happen that you want a particular person to modify the specific cells in an Excel sheet, leaving the rest of the cells in Excel protected to ensure that your private data doesn't get shared or compromised.

Unlock the Cells You Want to be Editable

By default, all cells in an Excel sheet are set to "Locked". You need to disable this for the cells you want to remain editable after protecting the sheet.

Step 1. Select the cells that you want users to be able to edit. You can select individual cells, ranges, or multiple ranges by holding down the Ctrl key while you click.
Step 2. Right-click on the selected cells and choose Format Cells from the context menu.

Step 3. In the Format Cells window, go to the Protection tab. Uncheck the box next to Locked.
Step 4. Click on the OK option to unprotect the cells.

Protect the Worksheet

Now that you've designated which cells to leave unlocked, you can protect the rest of the sheet.

Step 1. Go to the Review tab on the Excel ribbon. Click on Protect Sheet.

Step 3. Choose what actions users are allowed to perform on the protected sheet in the dialog box.
Step 4. Ensure the Protect worksheet and contents of locked cells option is checked and click on OK. If you set a password, you will be prompted to re-enter it for confirmation.

Part 5: Unprotect Excel Sheet Without a Password

If, after protecting the cells in an Excel sheet, you forgot the password you set up, try out TunesKit File Password Recovery. It offers the excellent ability to unlock the Excel files without a password, and since it provides a simple user interface, you won't have to spend any extra time unprotecting the cells in Excel without a password.

With its sophisticated algorithm, the tool unlocks Excel files without causing any damage, regardless of whether the password is restricted or open. What's more, TunesKit File Password Recovery also supports recovering password from a locked PDF file.

How to unprotect cells in Excel without password via TunesKit File Password Recovery?

Step 1Download and Install Program

Install the TunesKit File Password Recovery and then start the software on the computer. Next, you'll need to click on the Excel/Word/PPT section from the main interface.

Step 2Upload Excel to the Program

Select the Recover Office Password section if you're really troubled by the Open password of your office file. Next, press to add or drag an Office Excel file to the program for recovering.

Step 3Recover Excel File Password

TunesKit File Password Recovery provides three methods, including the Dictionary Attack, combination attack, and Brute Force, to recover the opening password of the Office files.

For Dictionary Attack, TunesKit is most likely to take full advantage of the built-in dictionary and quick search for the correct password. Alternatively, you may also import a custom dictionary by pressing the Gear icon at the upper right corner. This method has a high success rate and will be helpful if the password is commonly used.

If you talk about the Combination Attack, TunesKit will most probably combine all the characters you provide in order to find the right password. Anything is useful, like affix, password length, and characters you remembered. The more information you tend to provide, the shorter it will be.

For the Brute Force Attack, TunesKit will try all possible combinations to find the lost or forgotten password for you. Thus, you could do it if you failed to recover the file password after using the two methods above.

Step 4Unprocte Cells in Excel

After selecting a mode to unprotect cells, you'll need to click on the Start Recover icon, and then TunesKit File Password Recovery will start finding the open password for the Office File. The time it takes is surely dependent on which methods you select. Click on the Copy icon to get the password when the recovery process finishes.

Part 6: FAQs of How to Unprotect Cells in Excel

Conclusion

Unprotecting cells in Excel allows others to make changes to shared files. Our guide provides detailed instructions for unprotecting all or specific cells. If you don't have the password, use TunesKit File Password Recovery. It unlocks Excel files without a password and offers three modes to quickly recover lost or forgotten passwords.