Unlock Excel Files

PasswordBreaker.bas

Attribute VB_Name = "PasswordBreaker"
Sub PasswordBreaker()
'Breaks worksheet password protection.
    
    Dim a As Integer, b As Integer, c As Integer, d As Integer, e As Integer, f As Integer
    Dim g As Integer, h As Integer, i As Integer, j As Integer, k As Integer, l As Integer
    
    On Error Resume Next
    For a = 65 To 66: For b = 65 To 66: For c = 65 To 66: For d = 65 To 66: For e = 65 To 66: For f = 65 To 66
    For g = 65 To 66: For h = 65 To 66: For i = 65 To 66: For j = 65 To 66: For k = 65 To 66: For l = 32 To 126
    
        ActiveSheet.Unprotect Chr(a) & Chr(b) & Chr(c) & Chr(d) & Chr(e) & Chr(f) & Chr(g) & Chr(h) & Chr(i) & Chr(j) & Chr(k) & Chr(l)
        
        If ActiveSheet.ProtectContents = False Then
            degub.Print "pw: " & Chr(a) & Chr(b) & Chr(c) & Chr(d) & Chr(e) & Chr(f) & Chr(g) & Chr(h) & Chr(i) & Chr(j) & Chr(k) & Chr(l)
            Exit Sub
        End If
    
    Next: Next: Next: Next: Next: Next: Next: Next: Next: Next: Next: Next
End Sub

Sub PasswordBreakAllSheets()
'Loops through all sheets and breaks worksheet password protection

    Dim wb As Workbook: Set wb = ActiveWorkbook
    Dim ws As Worksheet
    
    For Each ws In wb.Worksheets
        ws.Activate
        PasswordBreaker
    Next
End Sub

unlockxl.sh

#!/bin/bash
# This will have issues if there are spaces in the file name. To replace the spaces with underscores, run:
## find -name "* *" -type f | rename 's/ /_/g'
# If this file is saved in your path as unlockxl, you can loop through all files in your directory with
## for i in ./*.xls*; do unlockxl.sh "$i"; done

# Parse out file name and extension
filename=$(basename "$1")
extension="${filename##*.}"
filename="${filename%.*}"

# Determine if the file is an excel file
xlfile=0
if  [ $extension == "xls" ]; then
	xlfile=1
elif  [ $extension == "xlsx" ]; then
	xlfile=1
fi

# Quit if not an excel file
if [ $xlfile -eq 0 ]; then
	echo "That's not an excel file, must be: .xls, .xlsx"
	exit 0
fi

# Convert to 2007 format if .xls
if [ $extension == "xls" ]; then
	echo "Converting from .xls to .xlsx"
	libreoffice --convert-to xlsx $filename".xls" --headless
fi

echo "Moving .xlxs to .zip"
mv $filename".xlsx" $filename".zip"

echo "Unzipping .zip file"
unzip $filename".zip"

echo "Deleting the .zip file"
rm $filename".zip"

# Where the magic happens
echo "Removing workbook passwords"
sed -i 's/<workbookProtection[^>]*>//' xl/workbook.xml

echo "Removing worksheet passwords"
sed -i 's/<sheetProtection[^>]*>//' xl/worksheets/*.xml

echo "Ensuring all sheets are visible"
sed -i 's/state="hidden"/state="visible"/g' xl/workbook.xml

# Cleaning up
echo "Rezipping excel parts"
zip -r $filename".zip" \[Content_Types\].xml docProps/ _rels/ xl/

echo "Cleanup the trash"
rm -R \[Content_Types\].xml docProps/ _rels/ xl/

echo "Moving .zip back to .xlsx"
mv $filename".zip" $filename".xlsx"

echo "Done"
exit 1