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Independent service. Not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Microsoft Corporation. Excel, Word and PowerPoint are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. References to those formats are descriptive only.
Four formats · one flat price

Which file is locked?

Pick the kind of file that is giving you trouble. Each one has its own page, because the lock on a spreadsheet is not the same lock as the one on a PDF — and what you need to know before you pay is not the same either.

£9 per file — one flat price, whichever of the four it is, whatever it weighs

No password afterwards. This is the bit people expect and it is not how it works. You are not handed a password. The lock is removed from the file, and it opens and edits exactly as it did before someone protected it.

Your content is untouched. Same pages and tabs, same formulas, same formatting, same numbers. We only take the editing lock off the file you send us.

We check it before you pay. Your file comes to us first so we can check we can do the job. If we cannot, you are not charged and our copy is deleted.

The same three steps, whichever it is

One price, one process. The only thing that changes from page to page is what we are looking at.

  1. Drop the file

    On the format's own page, we read the file's size on your own computer and show you the price. Choosing a file and looking at the price sends nothing; pressing unlock is what sends us a copy.

  2. We check it, then you pay

    Pressing unlock sends us a copy over an encrypted connection, and we check we can do the job. You pay by PayPal only if we can; if we cannot, you are not charged and our copy is deleted. Your original stays on your computer — we work on our own copy.

  3. We clear the lock

    You get an email with a download link to the unlocked file. It opens normally, and there is nothing to type in.

Two different locks, and only one of them is ours

Nearly every customer arrives with one of these two, and they are not the same problem. Knowing which one you have is the whole of the pre-purchase question.

The editing lock — the one we take off

The file opens. Then it refuses to let you change anything: cells read-only, printing greyed out, Restrict Editing on, slides that will not move. That is protection, it is a setting inside the file, and it comes off cleanly.

The password to open — the one we cannot

The file will not open at all until a password is typed. That is encryption: the contents are scrambled, not just restricted. On most files nobody can undo that, including us, and we will say so rather than take your money.

We check every file before the job is taken on. If yours is the second kind you are told straight, and anything you have paid is refunded. That is on every one of the four pages, in the same words, because it is true of all of them.

Three things that make it quick

None of this is paperwork for its own sake. Each one exists because of a real problem that cost somebody a file or a refund.

  • Your email address, typed twice. The unlocked file goes to that address and it cannot be redirected after payment, so a slip of the finger is worth catching before you pay.
  • One line about your connection to the file. Owner, or acting on the owner's instruction. It is a declaration, not a check of your identity, and it is what keeps the service legitimate.
  • The file itself, nothing else. One file, one job, one price. No account, no software to install, and your original never leaves your computer.

One price, whichever page you end up on

£9 for one file, whatever the format and whatever its size. No tiers, no extras, no upsell at the end. You see the price before you send anything, and you pay through PayPal only once we have checked the copy you sent and know we can do the job.

If we cannot clear the lock, you get your money back. That is the whole pricing policy, and it does not change from format to format.

Questions people actually ask

Why four pages instead of one?

Because the lock on a spreadsheet is not the lock on a PDF, and what you need to know before you pay is not the same either. A page that tries to cover all four ends up telling you nothing useful about yours. Every page says what we can do to that one kind of file, what it cannot do, and what it will not pretend about.

Do I get a password for the file afterwards?

No. You are not being handed a password. The editing lock is taken off the file, so there is nothing to type in and nothing to remember. That is the same on all four pages.

What if I pick the wrong page?

Nothing goes wrong. All four pages use the same order form, the same £9 price and the same file check — only the words around them differ. If your file is a kind we do not take, we say so and refund rather than charging you for the wrong job.

What if my file is password protected to open?

Then it is a different job and, on most files, not one that can be done. A password to open encrypts the whole file; an editing lock only restricts changes. We check which one you have before we take any money, and if we cannot do it you are told and refunded.

How long does it take?

The download link arrives by email, usually within the hour. You will get a link, not an attachment, so a locked-down email system cannot block it.

Is this legal?

Yes — on your own file. You own the content and you have the right to open your own work. We ask you to confirm that before you upload, and we refuse anything that looks like someone else's file. The full explanation is on the why this is legal page.

What happens to my file once you have finished?

The working copy we unlock is deleted once the job is done. The file you download stays available for a limited period, then it is deleted too. Your original never left your computer.