Encrypt Excel: How to protect your spreadsheet

If you have entered sensitive information, such as employee earnings or similar, in a spreadsheet, then you need to protect it. To prevent strangers from accessing your data, you can encrypt it. In doing so, you can also set a password that gives you access to the workbook.

How to encrypt an Excel workbook

If you enter sensitive data into your Excel spreadsheet, then it makes sense to protect it from third parties. Excel therefore offers you the possibility to encrypt your entire workbook and provide it with a password. However, there are some points to consider.

1. If you want to protect your workbook, first click on "File" at the top of the bar in Excel.
2. Then select the "Information" button.
3. Here you click on the "Protect workbook" field. Now select the item "Encrypt with password".
4. Under "Password" you can enter a suitable password. Achten Sie darauf, dass Sie verschiedene Zeichen und Groß- und Kleinschreibung verwenden, um das Kennwort so sicher wie möglich zu gestalten.
5. Bestätigen Sie das Passwort über „OK“.
6. Anschließend müssen Sie das Kennwort im Feld „Kennwort erneut eingeben“ nochmals eingeben und erneut mit „OK“ bestätigen.
7. Merken Sie sich zudem Ihr Passwort, da dieses nicht wiederhergestellt werden kann.