How to remove password protection from worksheets, workbooks, and shared workbooks in Excel 2000

This article describes how to remove protection from Excel worksheets and workbooks and how to return a protected, shared workbook to unrestricted use.

If you are not sure whether you need to remove protection from a workbook or a worksheet to gain the access that you want, point to Protection on the Tools menu. If the currently displayed worksheet is protected, the Unprotect Sheet command appears on the Protection menu. If the workbook is protected, the Unprotect Workbook command appears. To determine whether a workbook is shared, look for <Shared> in the title bar.

This information is also covered in more detail in Microsoft Excel 2000 Help. For more information about how to view this information in Help, please see the "References" section later in this article.

Remove Protection from an Individual Worksheet

1. Switch to the worksheet that you want to return to full access.
2. On the Tools menu, point to Protection, and then click Unprotect Sheet.
   
   If prompted, type the protection password for the worksheet. Passwords are case-sensitive. You must type the password exactly as it was created, including uppercase and lowercase letters.

Remove Protection from a Whole Workbook

• On the Tools menu, point to Protection, and then click Unprotect Workbook.
  
  If prompted, type the password that was assigned when the workbook was protected. Passwords are case-sensitive. You must type the password exactly as it was created, including uppercase and lowercase letters.

Return a Protected, Shared Workbook to Unrestricted Use

When you remove protection from a shared workbook for which sharing is protected with a password, you also remove the workbook from shared use. When you remove a workbook from shared use, Microsoft Excel disconnects all other users from the workbook, turns off the change history, and erases the stored change history so that you can no longer view the history or merge this copy with other copies of the workbook.

To make sure that others do not lose their work in progress, make sure that all other users have saved and closed the shared workbook. On the Tools menu, click Share Workbook, click the Editing tab, and then make sure you are the only user that is listed in the Who has this workbook open now box.

1. On the Tools menu, point to Protection, and then click Unprotect Shared Workbook.
2. If you are prompted, type the password for the workbook.
3. If you are prompted about the effects on other users of removing protection from the shared workbook, click Yes.
4. If the workbook was removed from shared use when you removed protection, return the workbook to shared use.

NOTE: If your shared workbook is protected but does not have a password, the workbook remains shared after you remove the protection.

For more information about removing protection, click Microsoft Excel Help on the Help menu, type unprotect in the Office Assistant or the Answer Wizard, and then click Search to view the topics returned.