How to Unprotect All Sheets in Excel at Once

The fastest way to unprotect every sheet

To unprotect all sheets in Excel at once, run a macro that takes the password one time and applies it to every tab. Excel's built-in Review > Unprotect Sheet only ever works on the active sheet, so on a 30-tab workbook you'd type the same password 30 times.

One thing to be clear about up front: this is for sheets you can already unlock. You enter the password you know, and the macro does the repetitive part. It isn't a way to break into a file you don't have the password for. Here's the comparison.

Method	Times you enter the password	Unlocks every tab?
Review > Unprotect Sheet	Once per sheet	No, one at a time
Free macro	Once	Yes

TL;DR: Key takeaways

• Excel unprotects one sheet at a time. There's no built-in "unprotect all" button.
• A free macro takes your password once and unprotects every sheet in the workbook in one pass.
• It reports how many sheets it unlocked and how many failed, so a wrong password is obvious.
• You need the correct password. This is not a password recovery or bypass tool.
• Unprotecting only removes the edit lock. It doesn't change or delete any of your data.

Why Excel makes you unprotect one sheet at a time

Sheet protection is set per worksheet, and so is removing it. You go to the Review tab, click Unprotect Sheet, type the password, and that one tab unlocks. The next tab is still locked, so you do it again.

For a workbook with a handful of sheets, that's fine. For a financial model with 20 or 30 tabs all protected with the same password, it's the kind of repetitive typing that makes you lose your place halfway through. There's no native shortcut that reaches across every sheet at once.

Worth knowing: Microsoft is upfront that worksheet protection is not a security feature. It states plainly that it "simply prevents users from modifying locked cells." It's there to stop accidental edits, not to lock people out. So if it's your own workbook and you know the password, unprotecting every tab should be quick.

How to unprotect all sheets at once

To unprotect all sheets in Excel at once, use a macro that loops through the workbook. Download Unprotect All Sheets. It's a free .xlsm file with one macro. No signup, and it runs offline, so your workbook stays on your machine.

First time running one of our macros? See How to run our tools for the 30-second setup.

1. Open the protected workbook.
2. Press Alt + F8, pick UnprotectAllSheets, and click Run.
3. Type the password when prompted, or leave it blank if the sheets have no password.
4. The macro unprotects every sheet it can and reports how many unlocked and how many failed.

The logic is a short loop that tries the password on each sheet:

Sub UnprotectAllSheets()
    Dim ws As Worksheet
    Dim pw As String
    pw = InputBox("Enter the password (leave blank if none):")
    For Each ws In ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets
        On Error Resume Next
        ws.Unprotect Password:=pw
        On Error GoTo 0
    Next ws
End Sub

The On Error Resume Next line is what keeps it moving. If one sheet has a different password and fails, the macro skips it instead of stopping, so the rest still unlock. The downloadable version adds the count of successes and failures, which is how you spot a tab that didn't take.

What if the sheets have different passwords, or none?

Two common cases the failure count handles for you.

No password. If the sheets were protected without one, just leave the prompt blank and run it. Blank is a valid password, and every tab unlocks.

Different passwords. If some tabs use one password and others use another, run the macro once with the first password. The summary tells you how many failed. Run it again with the second password, and those remaining tabs unlock. The failure count is your checklist for what's left.

What if you don't know the password?

Straight answer: you need the correct password, and this macro won't get around that. It applies the password you type; it doesn't recover or crack one. If it fails on every sheet, the password is wrong.

If it's your own file and you've genuinely lost the password, the safe routes are the ordinary ones. Check for an earlier version in your backups or your cloud version history, or your app's AutoRecover files. Or ask whoever set the protection. This tool is for the everyday case of unlocking your own tabs in bulk, not for opening a workbook you don't have rights to.

Example: refactoring an inherited model

An analyst at a manufacturing company in Rajkot inherits a budgeting workbook with 22 tabs, every one protected with the same password so the field team couldn't overwrite the formulas. Now she needs to restructure it, which means unlocking all of them.

Doing it by hand meant clicking Review, Unprotect Sheet, and typing the password once per tab. Twenty-two rounds of the same three actions, easy to lose track of which tabs she'd already done.

Instead she runs the macro, types the password once, and it reports "Unprotected 22 sheet(s)." Every tab is editable, nothing in the data changed, and she can get on with the actual refactor. When she's finished, she can protect all the sheets again in one step to lock the formulas back down.

FAQ

How do I unprotect all sheets in Excel at once?

Run a macro that loops through the workbook and calls Unprotect on each sheet with the password you provide. You enter the password once, and every tab that uses it unlocks. Excel has no built-in button for this, so a macro or an add-in is the only way to avoid unprotecting each sheet by hand.

Can I unprotect multiple sheets without doing each one manually?

Yes, with a macro. The native Review > Unprotect Sheet command only works on the active sheet, so multiple sheets mean repeating it tab by tab. A macro applies your password across every sheet in one run and reports which ones unlocked, which turns a 30-click chore into a single prompt.

What if my sheets have different passwords?

Run the macro once for each password. Start with the first one, and the summary tells you how many sheets failed. Run it again with the second password to clear those. Because it reports the failure count each time, you always know how many protected tabs are still left to unlock.

What if I don't know the password?

Then this tool can't help, and that's by design. It applies the password you enter and does not recover or bypass a lost one. If it's your own file, look for an earlier copy in your backups, cloud version history, or AutoRecover, or ask whoever protected it. It's meant for unlocking your own sheets in bulk, not breaking into a file.

Does unprotecting a sheet delete any data?

No. Removing protection only lifts the edit lock, so cells that were read-only become editable again. Your values, formulas, and formatting are untouched. Protection and the data on the sheet are separate things, so unprotecting simply hands editing control back to you without changing a single cell.

What to do next

If you know the password and the workbook is yours, don't unlock 30 tabs by hand.

Download the free Unprotect All Sheets macro and run it on your own workbook. It's the quickest way to unprotect all sheets in Excel at once, with a single password prompt and a clear report of anything it couldn't unlock. When the edits are done, lock the sheets back down or read the full guide to Excel productivity macros.