Protected Excel workbook -> really protected? 1

[flaviooooo]

Hi,

one of our salespeople wants to send an excelsheet (Excel 97) containing production data to one of her customers. She asked me to protect the file. One of the sheets needs to be hidden. On the other sheets I need to hide the formulas...

Now I've hidden the sheet, i've formatted each cell to be hidden (so that the formulas don't show) and i've protected each sheet separately. Then to top things off I've protected the entire workbook so that the customer can't simply unhide the hidden sheet...

Now my question: Is this really protected and secure?? I can imagine that there are hundreds of free and easy to use tools that can hack and crack this security in a minute. But I need your opinion on this one. Is it safe to send this out?

 

[xlbo]

As I said, I'm no expert on Access......;-)

Rgds, Geoff
[blue]Si hoc signum legere potes, operis boni in rebus Latinus alacribus et fructuosis potiri potes![/blue]
Want the [red]best[/red] answers to your questions ? faq222-2244

 

[SQLBI]

To my knowledge, holding down shift will by pass the settings in Tools > Startup, but if the VBA project has a password to view the code this should not be effected.



Leigh Moore
Solutions 4 MS Office Ltd

http://www.solutions4msoffice.co.uk

 

[combo]

A module in access MDE file is secure - you can still break VBA project password, but the code exists only in a compiled modules, so the project can't be viewed.
You can also consider powerpoint as host application, project protection coding here is different from other office applications, so maybe there are no password breaking tools (NB, when you place activex control on the slide and prompt to view code, powerpoint creates code module for this slide).

combo

 

[rdodge]

When an Access MDB file is converted to an Access MDE file, all of the source code related to viewing and editing VBA codes are removed from the file. Therefore, this makes it impossible to view or do anything with the code directly from within the file. However, this does not mean it's impossible to get the code from the file.

Here's a few links that I have found.

http://www.dummies.com/WileyCDA/DummiesArticle/id-2127.html

http://www.applecore99.com/gen/gen014.asp

Here's a technical article dealing with converting MDB to MDE:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnacc2k2/html/odc_acFormat.asp

Ronald R. Dodge, Jr.
Production Statistician
Master MOUS 2000
When the going gets tough, the tough gets going.

 

[rdodge]

When an Access MDB file is converted to an Access MDE file, all of the source code related to viewing and editing VBA codes are removed from the file. Therefore, this makes it impossible to view or do anything with the code directly from within the file. However, this does not mean it's impossible to get the code from the file.

Here's a few links that I have found.

http://www.dummies.com/WileyCDA/DummiesArticle/id-2127.html

http://www.applecore99.com/gen/gen014.asp

Here's a technical article dealing with converting MDB to MDE:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnacc2k2/html/odc_acFormat.asp

Ronald R. Dodge, Jr.
Production Statistician
Master MOUS 2000
When the going gets tough, the tough gets going.

 

[rdodge]

Sorry for the double post, this site was acting up on me earlier.

Ronald R. Dodge, Jr.
Production Statistician
Master MOUS 2000
When the going gets tough, the tough gets going.

 

[nberryman]

How many sheets?

If you Copy, Paste Special, Values it copies the values that are currently in the cells so no need for hidden sheets or formulas



Neil Berryman
IT Trainer
neil_berryman@btopenworld.com