How to: Programmatically Protect Workbooks
You can protect a Microsoft Office Excel workbook so that users cannot add or delete worksheets, and also unprotect the workbook programmatically. You can optionally specify a password, indicate whether you want the structure protected (so users cannot move sheets around), and indicate whether you want the workbook's windows protected.
Applies to: The information in this topic applies to document-level projects and VSTO add-in projects for Excel. For more information, see Features Available by Office Application and Project Type.
Protecting a workbook does not stop users from editing cells. To protect the data, you must protect the worksheets. For more information, see How to: Programmatically Protect Worksheets.
The following code examples use a variable to contain a password that is obtained from the user.
To protect a workbook
Call the Protect method of the workbook and include a password. To use the following code example, run it in the
ThisWorkbookclass, not in a sheet class.
To unprotect a workbook
Call the Unprotect method, passing a password if it is required. To use the following code example, run it in the
ThisWorkbookclass, not in a sheet class.
To protect a workbook
Call the Protect method of the workbook and include a password. This code example uses the active workbook. To use this example, run the code from the
ThisAddInclass in your project.
To unprotect a workbook
Call the Unprotect method of the active workbook, passing a password if it is required. To use this example, run the code from the
ThisAddInclass in your project.
Working with Workbooks
How to: Programmatically Protect Worksheets
How to: Programmatically Hide Worksheets
Optional Parameters in Office Solutions