Unprotecting a Microsoft Excel Workbook

How to Unprotect an Excel Workbook or Worksheet

To make structural or content changes in your Excel workbook, you’ll need to unprotect the workbook or worksheet. Here’s how you can do that depending on your needs:

Unprotect an Excel Workbook (for Structural Changes)

If you need to make structural changes such as adding, moving, deleting, hiding, or renaming worksheets, you will need to unprotect the workbook:

1. Open Your Workbook: Launch your Excel spreadsheet.
2. Go to the Review Tab: In the ribbon at the top, click the Review tab.
3. Unprotect Workbook: In the Protect section, click Protect Workbook.
   • If No Password Was Set: Your workbook will be unprotected immediately.
   • If a Password Was Used: Enter the password in the Unprotect Workbook box and click OK.

Unprotect an Excel Worksheet (for Content Changes)

If you only need to change the content within a worksheet (e.g., editing cells), you will need to unprotect the worksheet:

1. Open Your Spreadsheet: Launch your Excel workbook.
2. Go to the Review Tab: In the ribbon at the top, click the Review tab.
3. Unprotect Worksheet: In the Protect section, click Unprotect Sheet.
   • If No Password Was Set: The worksheet will be unlocked immediately.
   • If a Password Was Used: Enter the password in the Unprotect Sheet box and click OK.

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