Could you provide a little more information of what are you trying to accomplish? Not ‘how to do it’ but ‘what would be the best way to…’
Are you trying to ‘grab’ the data from (some kind of) data base and present it to the user as a report? If so, you can create an Excel Workbook with the data of your choice, save it as PDF, and get rid of Excel.
Would that qualify as "an ironclad, totally secure, method of providing highly sensitive data [...] for staff to use but not see (the raw data) "?
Have fun.
---- Andy
A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station.