How to put a password on an Excel file. Is it possible to set a password for Excel?

Did you know that a spreadsheet editor Microsoft Excel allows you to set a password to change both an entire workbook and a separate sheet? This is very convenient if you need to protect content from users, prohibit them from making changes to the table, or even block access to it. This is especially true in some companies where a single file dump is organized on the server, which is accessible to everyone and where all users dump documents. By password protecting the entire XLS or XLSX file from unauthorized access. At the same time, for those who really need access, you can issue a password individually.

Let's take a closer look at how to protect data with a password in Excel.

Setting a password on an Excel sheet

At the bottom of the window we find a list of sheets and click on the desired one right click mouse so that a menu appears where you need to select the “Protect Sheet” item:

A separate “Sheet Protection” window will appear, in which you need to specify a password, as well as check the boxes for the rights that will be available to users:

After you enter the password, another window will appear in which you must enter it again to confirm:

Now, when trying to change the contents of a protected sheet, the user will receive the following message:

And if he tries to unprotect the sheet, Excel will require him to enter a password:

Note: You can also open the “Sheet Protection” window through the main menu in the “Review” section. Watch the video for more details:

How to put a password on an Excel workbook

Now let's look at how to put it in Excel protection books with password. In the main program window and call the “File” menu. The following menu will appear in which you need to open the “Information” section:

The first item is “Book Protection”. Click on it and see this menu:

Select the “Encrypt using password” option. Excel will ask you to enter a password:

Enter and click “OK”. After this, you will see a message that a password is required to open this book.

Excel file password

This method of data protection implies that you want to set a password for the entire XLS or XLSX file so that an unauthorized person cannot open it at all, and if they try to do this, they will be prompted to enter a security key:

After you click the “OK” button, a password confirmation window will pop up twice - first to open XLS or XLSX file, and then - for change.
After this, you can be sure that your data is well protected.

Microsoft Office documents often contain information that others don't need to know. To ensure that no one but you can open your documents, Microsoft has provided the ability to set a password on them. Everything would be fine, they provided for setting a password for Word, Excel and other office documents, but for some reason access to these settings was made quite difficult to find.

Even if you know that there is definitely this thing somewhere, but you don’t remember where, it won’t be possible to find it the first time, without knowing about the possibility of setting a password on office document, the user may never know about it.

Everything is as usual very simple:

How to set a password on Excel document 2007 (in Word everything is the same)

1. Open the main menu and select "Save As"

2. In the window that opens, click the “Service” button at the bottom left and select “General Settings” from the drop-down menu

3. A window will open in front of you, in which you will be interested in the “Password to open” field, after you enter the password and click “OK” you will need to repeat your password, this is necessary to avoid errors.

How to set a password on an Excel 2003 document

The procedure is approximately the same as in other versions of the office.

1. Open the "File" menu and select "Save As"

2. In the window that opens, in the upper right corner, click the “Service” button and select “General Settings”

Now you can try to open a password-protected document and make sure that it is impossible to access it without a password.

In conclusion, I would like to suggest that in later versions of Office the principle of setting a password for documents will remain similar to that described above.

I hope this material will be useful to you.


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Security and data protection are one of the main directions of development of modern information technologies. The relevance of this problem is not decreasing, but only growing. Data protection is especially important for tabular files, which often store important commercial information. Let's learn how to protect Excel files with a password.

The program developers were well aware of the importance of being able to set a password specifically for Excel files, so they introduced several options for performing this procedure. At the same time, it is possible to set a key both for opening a book and for changing it.

Method 1: Set a password when saving a file

One method involves setting a password directly when saving the Excel workbook.


This way we protected the Excel file. Now, to open and edit it, you will need to enter the appropriate passwords.

Method 2: Set a password in the "Information" section

The second method involves setting a password in the Excel section "Intelligence".


Method 3: Setting a password and removing it in the “Review” tab

The ability to set a password also exists in the tab "Review".


As we see, Microsoft program Excel offers several ways to protect a file with a password, both from intentional hacking and from unintentional actions. You can password protect both opening a book and editing or changing its individual structural elements. At the same time, the author himself can determine from which changes he wants to protect the document.

Most computer users use Microsoft Office in their daily work. Quite often, documentation files may contain important information, which must be protected from third parties. To ensure that only you can open and edit your documents, the system has the ability to lock them with a password. Not all users know about this.

Nevertheless, we have such an opportunity. In fact, it’s quite easy to put a password on an Excel or Word file and thereby protect it; you just need to do some simple manipulations.

How to put a password on an Excel 2007 file

These steps are performed after you have created a document with the above name. First you need to use the menu to open the item Save as.

In the window that appears, find the button on the bottom left side Service, click and find in the list that appears Common parameters. In the newly opened window we find the line Password to open.

It is recommended to come up with an average and high degree complexity containing letters and numbers to reduce the likelihood of an Excel file containing sensitive information being hacked. After you have entered the password in the appropriate line, you will need to enter it again after clicking on OK. This operation exists to eliminate typing errors. The above steps work exactly the same with Word documents.

How to put a password on an Excel 2003 file

  1. After creating the file, you need to open the menu item File and select the line with the name Save as.
  2. In the window that appears, look for the item Service and in the pop-up menu we find the line Common parameters.
  3. Next, a window appears asking for a password, enter

Data security is a burning issue for many computer users, especially when it comes to PCs that are used by several people at once. Almost every computer is connected to the Internet, and it’s no secret that there are people wandering around the Internet. a large number of virus programs, some of which can transmit important information from the user’s computer to attacker servers. In addition, hackers are also capable of hacking someone else's cloud storage, where many people store data for comfortable work with them across multiple devices at once.

All of the above suggests that at any moment this or that file can be lost and fall into the “wrong hands”. If we are talking about a Word or Excel file, this may be an important document, the loss of which is undesirable and sometimes dangerous. Some users store in text documents important passwords, others create unique content (write scripts or books), and all this may end up in the hands of attackers. To avoid this situation, you can store documents in archives that have a password. But it is much more convenient to use built-in functions text editors, and from this article you will learn how to put a password on a Word or Excel document without using third-party programs.

We recommend reading:

Setting a password in Word 2003 (Excel 2003)

Programs Microsoft package Office 2003 has become very widespread, and many users still do not give up on them. They are often installed on low-power office computers, in schools, institutes and wherever necessary Word programs, Excel, PowerPoint and others with basic functions.

It was in Office 2003 applications that for the first time it became possible to set a password for a Word or Excel document. To do this you need:


Please note that for each specific document created on a computer, you must set a password separately.

Setting a password in Word 2007 (Excel 2007)

The most common office application package in Russia is Microsoft Office 2007. Over the years, it has not lost its popularity, and millions of people are accustomed to working with it. You can password protect Word or Excel documents from the 2007 office suite as follows:


Important: If you want to remove the set password from the document, repeat the procedure for setting it, but instead of the entered password, leave a blank line and click “OK”. In this case, Microsoft Office will automatically determine that the user wants to remove the password from Word document(Excel) and will not force you to repeat the command, as happens during its installation.

Setting a password in Word 2010, 2013, 2016 (Excel 2010, 2013, 2016)

The process of setting a password for a document in modern versions of office applications from Microsoft not much different from the version for Office 2007. However, modern programs have received a new design, and it would not hurt to give an example:


The process for deactivating a password in Word 2010 and later versions is identical to how it works in Word 2007.

Important: If encryption Word file or Excel took place in a modern version of Microsoft Office (after 2010) or in an online version Office programs 365, the document cannot be opened in Word 2007 and earlier versions.