"Richard" <Richard@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:29A14008-43E0-4011-9796-B862377AAC5D@microsoft.com...
>I have an Excel file that I encrypted. I wish to remove the encryption.
>
> After encrytion of this file, I was required by Dell to reload my OS
> (Windows XP SP2) on my home computer due to a problem they could not
> otherwise solve. Prior to the reload I had copied the Excel file to an
> external drive. After bringing my computer back up, I find I cannot open
> the
> Excel file because "The document may be read-only or encrypted". It's not
> read-only, but it was/is encrypted. Since I can't access it, I attempted
> to
> remove the encryption via "Properties, Attributes (Advanced)" and removing
> the check mark from "Encrypt contents to secure data". I tried to apply
> this
> but got "An error occurred applying attributes to the file ....... " and
> nothing changed.
> ...

A little more is required than removing the "encrypted" property.
What _is_ required is actually decrypting the encrypted information.
Your approach is certainly original though. Think of how WWII could
have been shortened if only we could have taken encrypted Japanese
and German transmissions and have removed the property of being
encrypted from them.

1) Find the password.

2) Find the encryption method.

3) Run 2) in reverse using 1).

4) Lacking both 1) _and_ 2), go find a corner and weep in it.