Forum Discussion
Is it really impossible to break workbook protection?
Yes, Excel protection is mainly the protection from the errors due to negligence. Simplest case, if you hide Sheet1 and protect structure, anyone could write in Sheet2 formulas like =Sheet1!A1 and pick-up information from hided sheet in protected structure. To find actual name of the Sheet1 is also not a big deal.
Thanks for your answer. It makes sense. However I have also protected the workbook with a password for opening and anonymised all names with random numbers. Finally I have deleted all content in the hidden worksheets and deleted all previous versions of the workbook before sending to customer. Do you think all this gives 100% protection?
IMHO, if you anonymised all names that's enough from GDPR point of view. Password gives another protection from unintentional access (however, it could be hacked). Deleting of previous versions gives nothing, that affects only internal environment.
I guess you are safe enough.
Dear Sergei,
One last consideration. How should I understand your phrase "affects only internal environment". My intention of removing previous versions of the workbook is that these would also contain the real names of the participants in the survey. I want to be sure that these names are truly gone for good and cannoit berecovered in some way or another if the access password is broken.
Best regards
Per
I mean if you send the file to someone outside, such person have no access to version history (OneDrive, Sharepoint, etc) and/or autosaved versions on your local computer.
If you share the file within your environment (e.g. on OneDrive) when yes, it's better to save final version as separate file and share only it.
The files without the deleted old versions of the workbooks are sent to each customer using a separate Sharepoint site I have made for each customer, that has no access to the rest of my Sharepoint sites.
Does this setup mean I do not have to delete the old versions in principle?