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Christian CoutureFlag for Canada

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Locked out of Excel File

Hi All,

I am in a bit of a delema here.  We have 3 Excel files that have been password protected so we can't open them.  The issue we have is they were locked by an old employee at least 2 years ago.  We have no way of contacting this old employee and no one knows the passwords to these files.  

I have been able to determine that the possible protection is: MS Excel 97-2003 - Open Password, VBA Project - 40bit RC4 Encryption

Is it possible to get into these files? I don't want to buy one of the programs online that say they can do it without actually seeing it work.  I also can't send the files anywhere to get it done as they have financial info in them.  

Any idea's or suggestions would be great.
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Chris Ashcraft
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Tried that it actually ins't  free.  You can download it and try it and it says it can do it but then it wants you to pay.
it is Excel 2003
For passwords over 3 characters you have to pay. But it says it recovers all of them - you just can't see them, so it should at least indicate whether the full version will work.
You can run it and see if it can find/crack the password - you have to pay if the password is over 3 characters in length.  At least you will know if it works.
Since you are using Excel 2003, you may wish to try http://www.freewordexcelpassword.com/.
We were able to track down the old user and get the passwords. Thanks for your help