Reading password protected workbooks

Hello,
Does ASPOSE.Cells support reading password protected workbooks ?
How workbooks are saved in BIFF7 format.
Thanks,
TN

Hi,

Thanks for considering Aspose.

1. Yes, you can open any worbook using Aspose.Cells. Aspose.Cells can read any workbook in the file format including(Excel97 - Excel2003) and all the workbooks are opened in read only format. If a workbook is already protected, you may use Workbook.Unprotect() method to first unprotect it and then edit and save the file. Following is a sample code:

Workbook workbook = new Workbook();

workbook.Open("d:\\wkbprotectiontest.xls",FileFormatType.Excel2003);

// Unprotecting the workbook using its password.

workbook.Unprotect("007");

workbook.Worksheets[0].Cells["A1"].PutValue("testing...");

workbook.Save("d:\\wkbprotectiontest.xls",FileFormatType.Excel2003);

You can also protect a whole workbook using Workbook.Protect() method. Moreover, you may protect / unprotect a specific worksheet using Worksheet.Protect() and Worsheet.Unprotect() methods.

For reference, please see :

Protecting Worksheet

Unprotect a Worksheet

Note: If a workbook is encrypted, you can use the following version of Workbook's Open() method:

public void Open(
string fileName,
FileFormatType type,
string password
);

2. Aspose.Cells only supports BIFF8 and greater format (Excel97 - Excel2003). If you want to use a file of BIFF7 format, you have to convert it to Excel97 - Excel2003 format first.

The procedure is simple: Open your file in MS Excel (Excel97 - Excel2003) and Save the file As "Microsoft Excel Workbook" and then you may utilize Aspose.Cells to use the file.

Regards

Amjad Sahi

Aspose Nanjing Team

Thanks for your advises.

@thomas.niemczyk,

We recommend you to kindly try upgrading to and use latest version of the product which includes support for older BIFF7 (Excel 95/5.0 - 2003 Workbook) formats with enhancements now:

Also, see the document for supported input and output file formats by Aspose.Cells: