How to Remove Excel Sheet Protection on a Mac

Updated · about 4 min read

Most "unprotect Excel" tutorials assume Windows. On a Mac, some of those tricks don't translate — there's no built-in way to edit a file's innards as easily, and many downloadable "unlockers" are Windows-only .exe files. Here's what genuinely works on macOS.

Method 1: A browser tool (works on any Mac)

Because it runs in Safari or Chrome, a browser-based unlocker doesn't care whether you're on macOS, Windows, or anything else — and there's nothing to install or allow through Gatekeeper.

Unprotect on your Mac, no install

Runs in Safari or Chrome. Your file is processed locally and never uploaded.

Open the free unlocker →

Open the unlocker tool in your browser.
Drag the protected .xlsx or .xlsm file from Finder onto the drop zone.
The unprotected copy lands in your Downloads folder. Your original stays put.

Method 2: The manual Archive Utility method

macOS can unpack the .xlsx archive with its built-in Archive Utility, so you can do the edit by hand if you prefer.

Duplicate your file in Finder (Cmd + D) so you keep the original.
Rename the duplicate's extension from .xlsx to .zip. (If extensions are hidden, enable them in Finder → Settings → Advanced → Show all filename extensions.)
Double-click the .zip to expand it. Open the resulting folder and go to xl → worksheets.
Open the relevant sheetN.xml in TextEdit. Find the <sheetProtection ... /> tag and delete it entirely, then save.
Re-zip: select the contents of the unpacked folder (not the folder itself), right-click, and choose Compress. Rename the resulting .zip back to .xlsx.

The re-zipping gotcha

Excel is picky about archive structure. If you compress the parent folder instead of its contents, Excel will reject the file. This is the step people most often get wrong on a Mac — which is why Method 1 is the safer bet for important workbooks.

Method 3: LibreOffice for Mac

LibreOffice is a free Mac app that doesn't enforce Excel's worksheet password. Open the file, choose Tools → Protect Sheet to toggle protection off, and save back to .xlsx. Worth keeping around as a fallback, though very complex workbooks can shift slightly in the round-trip.

Note for Excel for Mac users

If you have the password, the simplest route is right inside Excel for Mac: Review → Unprotect Sheet. These methods are for when you've lost or never had the password.