How to put password on Excel file 2007

Excel 2007 is an amazing tool for data entering. Microsoft tries to provide every kind of facility to its users, which includes privacy as well. There are a lot of files which we don't want everyone to view them or edit them without us knowing or without our consent. For this, we protect our Excel files by applying multiple passwords on them. With the help of the feature of Excel password protect 2007, you can easily manage your file, who can view it, who can edit it, and who can read it only. The following article will be discussing about some of the easiest ways to protect your Excel 2007 file.

How to Password Protect Excel 2007

Excel 2007 provides so many functionalities for privacy, that every other person doesn't know how to apply them in real sense. Sometimes, when you apply privacy on your Excel file by putting password to it, you forget the password the next time you come to open your file. Excel 2007 doesn't provide a feature forgot password, so users face so many difficulties in unlocking their password protect Excel 2007 file. Some of the easiest ways to protect your Excel 2007 file are as follow.

1. Protect Excel 2007 Workbook with Password

Excel 2007 provides a wonderful feature to protect your workbook with a password. You apply password to your file so that only those who knows the password can unprotect it and make changes to your file. You can protect your Excel 2007 workbook by following these steps.

Step 1: Open the Excel 2007 file you want to protect and choose "File" from the menu and select "Save as".

Step 2: A new window will open and there will be a dropdown "Tools", select it and choose "Save options" from it.

Step 3: A new prompt will pop up, asking the user to enter password to protect the file.

Step 4: Set the password you want to, and then click "Ok".

Step 5: Confirm your password and Save the file.

2. Protect Excel 2007 Spreadsheet with Password

People always want to put privacy on their files which includes their sensitive information. But the basic issue, a lot of people face is, how to put password on Excel file 2007? For such, you can follow these simple steps.

Step 1: Open your Excel 2007 file you want to protect and click on "Review" menu.

Step 2: Select the option with "Protect Workbook" and a dropdown will be shown providing multiple options.

Step 3: Select the option with "Protect Structure and Windows".

Step 4: A prompt will open asking for password, enter your password and click on "Ok".

Step 5: The password is optional in this case, you can just protect your Excel 2007 file without password as well, as it will ask you the next time you open the file that "the file is protected", but if no password is applied anyone can open or edit the file.

Step 6: Just click "Save" after applying password and you are good to go.

3. Protect Excel 2007 Cell with Password

We have been discussing about how to password protect Excel 2007 file, but not about protecting the cells. Excel 2007 provides a feature in which you can actually lock your specific cells as well. For such, you need to follow these simple steps.

Step 1: To protect your Excel 2007 file's cells, you first of all need to unprotect all the cells that are being protected before.

Step 2: To do so, select all the rows and columns on your worksheet, right click and select "Format Cells" from it.

Step 3: A window will appear, select the "Protection" tab and uncheck the "Locked" option.

Step 4: Once you're done unprotecting all the cells, now select each cell you want to protect, right click on the selected cell and choose "Format Cell" from there.

Step 5: Once again, from the protection tab check the "Locked" checkbox.

Step 6: To lock your desired cells, you must protect your Excel sheet first.

Step 7: For protecting your Excel 2007 sheet click on the "Review" menu and choose protect sheet from there.

Step 8: Set a password to it if you want to as it is optional, click "Save".

Bonus Tips: How to Unprotect Excel 2007

Sometimes, when a user sets a lot of password to his/her Excel file, it is very hard to remember every one of them. If you forget your Excel 2007 file password, it is not so easy to recover it. For that, there is a very powerful tool that can easily unlock any sort of password you set to your Excel file. PassFab for Excel can be used to unlock your Excel 2007 file very easily, no matter how long or difficult the password is, this tool can break the password. To crack your Excel 2007 file password, you can follow these simple steps.

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Step 1: Import your Excel file in the software.

Step 2: Select the type of attack you want to unlock your password with.

Step 3: Run the tool.

Step 4: Within some time (depending upon the type of attack and length of the password) your file will be unprotected.

This tool provides a very user friendly interface, that is, it is not very difficult to use. Just put in your file and click go. This amazing software in not free but you can take the trial version anytime.

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Summary

Protecting the file is the highest priority for every person who enters some of their sensitive information in it. We have discussed a lot of easy ways on how to password protect Excel 2007 file. We have also seen a very powerful software that can recover your password if you have forgotten your password for your Excel 2007 file. If you can find any other easy way to protect Excel file or to unprotect it, just let us know and we will surely look into it. Thank you.

Microsoft Excel remains the most popular spreadsheet application in the world. Excel spreadsheet data is often sensitive, containing personal or financial data. Understandably, you might consider additional protection for your Excel files, such as a password.

You can password protect any Excel file using several options, including the integrated Excel password tool or third-party Excel password options.

The first option for Excel password protection is an integrated tool. The entire Microsoft Office suite has a password protection tool you can use to secure your Excel spreadsheets, Word documents, PowerPoint presentations, and so on.

In Excel, head to File > Info. Select Protect Workbook, then Encrypt with Password from the dropdown menu.

Now, enter a secure password for your Excel spreadsheet. Ensure your password is strong and unique, press OK, then re-enter your password to confirm.

Next time you attempt to open the Excel spreadsheet, you’ll meet the password entry form.

New to Excel? Check out our Microsoft Excel basics tutorial to learn the ropes – fast!

How Secure Is Microsoft Office Password Protection?

Microsoft Office 97-2003 used a very poor encryption standard, known as RC4. The older encryption algorithm has numerous vulnerabilities, which makes cracking the password on an older Excel document incredibly easy.

Microsoft Office 2007-2013 saw an upgraded encryption algorithm, switching to the much stronger AES-128 algorithm. Office 2016-2019 uses the AES-256 encryption algorithm, which is unbreakable within a reasonable timeframe using existing technology.

Extra Excel Protections

Microsoft Excel has a few extra security features, too:

• Mark as Final: Marks the file as complete, which informs other users of the spreadsheet that they should not make any changes. However, marking a spreadsheet as final does not provide any additional password protection.
  
• Protect Current Sheet: You can add a small additional layer of protection to a specific spreadsheet within your workbook when you password protect an Excel sheet. People with access to the Excel file can still see the spreadsheet but cannot make any changes without the correct password. You can use a different password for this option, too.

• Restrict Access: An option large organizations can use to restrict access to certain individuals using security templates or other identifiers.
  
• Add a Digital Signature: The digital signature option verifies that the file remains untampered between the sender and recipient, ensuring the content is the same.

You might use a combination of additional security features alongside the Excel spreadsheet password protection option, especially if you’re sharing an Excel spreadsheet.

2. 7-Zip

A great method for encrypting multiple Excel files at the same time is to use the free archive tool, 7-Zip to password protect multiple Excel files. You can use 7-Zip to encrypt a whole folder of individual Excel files, password protecting an entire selection of Excel spreadsheets rather than one at a time.

First, download and install the latest version of 7-Zip. Once installed, head to the folder containing your Excel spreadsheets. Now, drag your mouse cursor over the files you want to password protect to select them all. Alternatively, hold CTRL and left click to select individual files with your mouse.

After finalizing your selection, right-click and select 7-Zip > Add to Archive to open the 7-Zip archive options. Encryption options are on the right. Enter a strong and unique password, then press OK.

Now, you must enter a password before opening any of the Excel spreadsheets inside the archive. But the spreadsheets outside the archive are not password protected. Select the non-password protected Excel spreadsheets (outside the archive) and delete them.

3. Windows Encrypting File System

The Windows Encrypting File System (EFS) is Windows integrated encryption system for individual files. EFS is unlike Bitlocker, which you use for full disk encryption. Instead, EFS works on a file-by-file basis, perfect for password-protecting an Excel spreadsheet.

To use EFS to encrypt your file, right-click the Excel spreadsheet and select Properties. Now, select Advanced, then check the box to Encrypt contents to secure data. Press OK, then Apply.

The Encryption Warning will appear. It explains that encrypting a single file can cause an issue under certain circumstances and that encrypting the entire folder offers more protection. If the file is in a frequently accessed folder, you’ll have to unlock the folder each time you want to access any other file. One way around this is to place your text file in a separate folder and use this as your secure folder.

After confirming your selection, the Encrypting File System will ask you if you want to take a backup of the encryption key. You can use the encryption key backup if you forget your decryption password.

Exporting Your Encryption Key Backup

If you choose to export your encryption key backup for additional security, the Microsoft Certificate Export Wizard will run. The wizard will guide you through the creation and export of your encryption key to an external media source, such as a USB flash drive.

Select Personal Information Exchange from the first page, and check Export all extended properties. On the next page, you must input a secure and unique password to password protect your files. Switch the encryption type to AES256-SHA256 (extremely strong encryption!), then give your encryption key backup a filename. Press Finish to complete the process.

Once the process is complete, you’ll see a small lock icon on the Notepad text file icon, indicating its encryption status.

4. AxCrypt

Another handy tool for password protecting Excel sheets is AxCrypt, a handy yet powerful encryption tool.

Download and install AxCrypt. The first time you run AxCrypt, you’ll have to run through the setup. Importantly, you must provide a real email address during the sign-up process, or else you won’t receive your free AxCrypt license. After receiving the code, copy and paste it into AxCrypt before continuing.

You also need to create a strong and unique AxCrypt password. The AxCrypt password acts as the encryption and decryption key for your Excel spreadsheets. Take heed of the AxCrypt warning. Restoring your password will only allow access to the account associated with the files. It will not allow you to decrypt files secured with an old password.

When you’re ready, drag and drop an Excel spreadsheet file into the AxCrypt window. If you are signed into AxCrypt, it will encrypt your files automatically. Similarly, if you are logged into AxCrypt and attempt to open a file, it will not present a password prompt. If you close AxCrypt (which also logs you out), you will receive a password prompt when you attempt to open the spreadsheet.

AxCrypt is a free encryption tool, which is why it features in our list of the best Windows freeware programs.

What’s The Best Way To Password Protect An Excel Spreadsheet?

In the old days, using Microsoft Office’s integrated password protection to password protect an Excel file or sheet was risky. The encryption algorithm was not strong enough and had multiple vulnerabilities, rendering it unusable. As Microsoft Office now uses AES-256, you can rest assured that the password protection on your Excel spreadsheet is trustworthy and impossible to break using current technology.

As the integrated password protection only handles one file at a time, you might also consider the 7-Zip encryption option. If you are dealing with a large volume of Excel spreadsheets that you want to protect, password protecting all of them in a single archive (with a strong and unique password!) is a handy option that also uses AES-256.

Wondering about a strong and unique password? Check out these easy ways to create a password you’ll always remember.