Over time, Microsoft has increased the importance of security in their pecking order, but Microsoft Excel’s password protection is still rather lack-luster. A few days ago, a co-worker had asked me for help in recovering a password she had forgotten for an old Excel spreadsheet. Luckily, this can be done with absolutely no additional software.

This routine provides a password to unprotect your worksheet. However, it may not give you the original password that was used.

• Open the workbook that has the protected sheet in it. Hit Alt+F11 to view the Visual Basic Editor. Hit Insert-Module and paste this code into the right-hand code window:

Sub PasswordBreaker()
 'Author unknown but submitted by brettdj of www.experts-exchange.com

 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)
 ActiveWorkbook.Sheets(1).Select
 Range("a1").FormulaR1C1 = 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

• Close the VB Editor window. Navigate to the worksheet you want to unprotect. Hit Tools-Macro-Macros and double-click PasswordBreaker in the list.

Original tutorial can found at The Office Experts Sample VBA.

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