There are several ways to crack an Excel password (open password or user password) to regain access to the file if you've lost the original one, forgot it, or never had it. Although there are some robust tools for breaking password specifically for Excel files, many of them are too complicated for inexperienced users. As a result of that, we've showcased some relatively easy ways to crack Excel passwords on Windows, Mac, and Linux. Let's take a look at these tools and the steps to use them.

• Part 1. Crack Excel Password on Windows
• Part 2. Crack Excel Password on Mac
• Part 3. Crack Excel Password on Linux

Part 1. Excel Password Cracker on Windows 10

On a Windows computer, you need to look no further than TunesBro Excel Password Remover. This powerful password recovery utility works with a wide range of Excel and Windows versions, and the hardware acceleration feature ensures that the original password is recovered in the shortest amount of time possible.

In addition, if your files are permission-restricted, you can instantly remove the edit password (Owner or Permissions Password) in bulk. The user interface is slick and it's even suitable for novice users, and the three powerful password decryption options will make sure that almost any password, no matter how complex or long, will be cracked in a relatively short time.

Step 1Preparation

Install the program on a Windows PC the way you would install any software. Make sure you download from the official TunesBro website to avoid downloading spurious or malicious copies.

Step 2Add Excel File

When you launch the application, you will see two options: the first one is the password recovery function, while the second is the one for bulk permissions restriction removal. Click on the first option.

Step 3Choose a Password Attack Type

In the subsequent page, you can choose between three password attack types, also known as password recovery engines, as described below:

Dictionary Attack: Use built-in wordlists to crack relatively simple and specific password types. You also have the option to upload your own wordlists if you want to.

Brute Force Attack: Attempt to try all possible combinations, which means it will take the longest amount of time out of the three types.

Mask Attack: Similar to Brute Force, this requires additional user input. If you know the length of the password, a few of the characters used, or even a prefix or suffix, it takes less time to recover.

Note: At this stage, you can also choose to leverage your CPU cores and graphics processor to speed up password recovery. In addition, you can tweak the settings to have your PC shut down after the password has been recovered, or even save progress in case it is interrupted.

4Start Cracking Excel Password

The last step is to simply click the Start button. Once the password is recovered, it will be displayed on your screen, from where you can copy it and open the locked Excel file.

TunesBro Excel Password Remover is a must-have utility if you regularly work with password-protected Excel files. The biggest benefit of password recovery is that your colleagues with whom the file is shared won't have to be inconvenienced since you're not resetting the password but retrieving the original.

Part 2. How to Crack Exel Password on Mac (Online)

On a Mac, one of the easiest ways to crack an Excel password is to use an online service. That way you don't have to download anything, and the process is fairly simple as well. One thing you should be aware of is that even if a particular service (like the one shown below) is secure, your file is still exposed to hackers when it's being uploaded or downloaded. For that reason, we advise you to make sure you only do this on a secure Internet connection. That way, you have some measure of protection. Here's the process to follow:

Step 1. Find a secure Excel password cracking service like lostmypass.com and drop your Excel file into the box provided. You can also click the orange button to manually navigate to the file and select it.

Step 2. The free recovery option is great for frequently used passwords - about 3 million of them - but the success rate is only 22%. There are several paid options that increase that percentage to about 61%, but you won't have to pay if your password is not recovered. There's a 100% recovery option, but you'll need to provide accurate mask parameters for this.

Step 3. Once your password has been recovered, you can make the payment (if you're opting for one of the non-free choices) and download your file.

It's a lot more expensive that using TunesBro software, which is also available for Mac. However, for simple passwords, you can recover it for free on your Mac using this great online service.

Part 3. How to Crack Excel Password on Linnux (Free)

There are essentially two relatively simple password cracking tools you can use on Linux to recover Excel passwords. One is John the Ripper and the other is Hashcat. If you're using Kali Linux, you probably already have John installed. However, John can't retrieve the hashes so you'll need something else for this.

Office2John is a simple Python script that prepares the hash file for John to take over and crack. Although it sounds a bit complicated, the process itself is straightforward: retrieve the hash for the encrypted Excel file using Office2John, verify the hash, and let John do its job using wordlists that you might already have. If you don't, you can always generate your own or download one from CrackStation.

Step 1. Office2John doesn't come with John the Ripper's generic version, but you can run a wget command to download it:

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/magnumripper/JohnTheRipper/bleeding-jumbo/run/office2john.py

Step 2. Office2John typically gets saved to your home directory, so bring your command prompt to the same location before running the program to retrieve the hash. Just use the cd command to do this.

Step 3. Now, you'll need to retrieve the hash using Office2John, and you can do this with the following command. Again, make sure you're in the same directory where the tool was downloaded to:

python office2john.py LockedExcel.xlsx > hash.txt

What this command does is to "steal" the hash from the locked file and save it in a text file called Hash.

Step 4. It is now time for John to do its work. Before you begin, you might want to verify the hash, which you can do with this command:

cat hash.txt

Step 5. To run John, use the following command: john --wordlist=/usr/share/wordlists/nmap.lst hash.txt

The default NMAP wordlist is good for simple passwords, but you can also get the CrackStation dictionary if you think the password might be a long or complex one. If you're doing that, change nmap.lst in the command above as appropriate.

Step 6. To have your cracked password displayed, use this command: john --show hash.txt

There are other ways to unprotect an Excel sheet in Linux, but this is one of the simplest available.

Summary

Follow the above methods to effectively crack Excel passwords and access the locked files in Windows, Mac, and Linux . These tools will prove invaluable in situations where an ex-employee has confidential information locked in Excel files and hasn't saved the passwords anywhere. They're especially useful when dealing with HR or Finance-related documents that are time-sensitive or mission-critical.