Hello All, Isn't there away to gain access to an excel file with out having to buy software? I thought there was a back end way to do this. I have an employee who password protected her excel file that she rarley uses. Now she cannot remember the password. Any ideas? We don't have it in the budget to purchase software to crack the password, so any help is greatly appreaciated. Thanks, -Diametric

Hi Diametric I think you may be in a bad situation here. I have an Excel file that is password protected and before I protected it, it said do not forget the password as you will be unable to retrieve it. Sorry mate, there may be software out there to crack this but I'm sorry I can't help. Wolfey On a hot summers night would you offer your throat to the Wolf with the Red Roses?

free software to crack passwords is usually limited to 4 positions, and consists in a "all combinations" trying (ie aaaa,aaab,aaac, and so on). If u've got an idea (with a big big piece of chance) on how many characters she used, u can try one. Password is an entire part of the excel sheet, and can't be founded....

did u tried to import it in powerpoint, just to be sure if file can be open...!-) !

i've tried the following : have a new excel file, with 1 sheet. Locked rows, protected sheet, protected file. Register it.Open powerpoint import object/existin object choose this protected file and import in a picture. Try to modify : protection, modif denied.Next select the picture, copy, and paste in a new excel session : rows are not locked: curious isn't it..! Can u try something like that...just to see if i missed up somethin...???

Taxi mate What file format did you open the xls sheet in, in powerpoint? On a hot summers night would you offer your throat to the Wolf with the Red Roses?

In powerpoint, insert/object/excel sheet/existing file.A picture comes in which rows are locked when u 2xclic on it (excel opens and lock pop-up appear). Then selected the picture, copy, pasted in a new excel sheet . The sheet is pasted but not locked.