Page 453 - Excel 2013 All-in-One For Dummies

Password-Protecting the File 435
When entering a password, make sure that you don’t enter something that you can’t easily reproduce or, for heaven’s sake, that you can’t remember. You must be able to immediately reproduce the password in order to assign it, and you must be able to reproduce it later if you want to be able to open or change the darned workbook ever again.
2. (Optional) If you want to assign a password to open the file, type the password (up to 255 characters maximum) in the Password to Open text box.
As you type the password, Excel masks the actual characters you type by rendering them as dots in the text box.
If you decide to assign a password for opening and modifying the work- book at the same time, proceed to Step 3. Otherwise, skip to Step 4.
When entering the password for modifying the workbook, you want to assign a password that’s different from the one you just assigned for opening the file (if you did assign a password for opening the file in this step).
3. (Optional) If you want to assign a password for modifying the work- book, click the Password to Modify text box and then type the pass- word for modifying the workbook there.
Before you can assign a password to open the file and/or to modify the file, you must confirm the password by reproducing it in a Confirm Password dialog box exactly as you originally entered it.
4. Click the OK button.
Doing this closes the General Options dialog box and opens a Confirm Password dialog box, where you need to exactly reproduce the password. If you just entered a password in the Password to Open text box, you need to reenter this password in the Confirm Password dialog box. If you just entered a password in the Password to Modify text box, you need only to reproduce this password in the Confirm Password dialog box.
However, if you entered a password in both the Password to Open text box and the Password to Modify text box, you must reproduce both passwords. In the first Confirm Password dialog box, enter the password you entered in the Password to Open text box. Immediately after you click OK in the first Confirm Password dialog box, the second Confirm Password dialog box appears, where you reproduce the password you entered in the Password to Modify text box.
5. Type the password exactly as you entered it in the Password to Open text box (or Password to Modify text box, if you didn’t use the Password to Open text box) and then click OK.
If your password does not match exactly (in both characters and case) the one you originally entered, Excel displays an alert dialog box, indi- cating that the confirmation password is not identical. When you click
Book IV Chapter 1
Protecting Workbooks and Worksheet Data