Hide / password protect formulas ?
Posted by simon on November 21, 2001 7:26 AM
Is it possible to protect your formulas before distributing the spreadsheet to the wider world? I understand that hiding can just be turned off by a 3rd party user.
Posted by Gary Hewitt-Long on November 21, 2001 10:19 AM
If you click hidden from the format cells protection tab and then choose a password when you protect the sheet, they won't see the formula unless they know the password to unprotect the sheet.
Untick protected for cells that you would like people to be able to use when the sheet is protected.
Regards,
Gary Hewitt-Long
Posted by Juan Pablo on November 21, 2001 11:36 AM
I don't like being the guy that brings bad news, BUT, be aware that Excel protection is NOT very safe, not Worksheet, Workbook, nor VBA proyects... i've seen them crack in seconds... but, then, they will need the tools for that.
Juan Pablo
Posted by Gary Hewitt-Long on November 21, 2001 5:18 PM
They aren't too hard to find for free on the net, astalavista springs to mind. But if your that
bothered about people seeing formula then don't share it.
Chances are that a lot of people won't uderstand how a complex set of formula are working anyway.
I don't mind anyone seeing mine, if they learn something by looking at what I have done then all the better. The only time I don't want people seeing my formula is when they are very inexperienced and have to use my sheets. THEN I make sure everything is locked, with message boxes popping up on open, linking back to my machine across a network asking for permission to unprotect the sheets. Although that will only work on a LAN.
Regards,
Gary Hewitt-Long
Regards,
Gary Hewitt-Long
