Macros & Passwords

[CVBBTreasurer]

I inherited an excel spreadsheet when I became the treasurer for the school band. It is Excel 2013. So old. Within my spreadsheet, each student has an account page. Every month a macro creates a pdf of each page (student account) and then gets emailed to the parents. Recently, I had to change the gmail password and now it needs changed in my spreadsheet. The password looks like it is in an imported picture, not a cell. But won’t let me edit. TY for any help. 

[#2]

@CVBBTreasurer 

Recently, I had to change the gmail password and now it needs changed in my spreadsheet. The password looks like it is in an imported picture, not a cell. But won’t let me edit.

You needed to change the gmail password for what, exactly? I can't image that it's a gmail password for the Excel spreadsheet. (Spreadsheets can be protected by a password, but it wouldn't be described as a "gmail password".)

That aside, a password would not be a picture. Although there could be an image of a password; i.e., an image of some text. And, yes, it couldn't be edited, but if it's text, then that's a starting point.

All in all, I'm not sure that what you're describing is an Excel issue, per se. So maybe you can give us a bit more to work with, beginning by responding to what I've said above.

[#3 · Accepted solution]

It sounds like the original author took a picture of the password information just so future users will have it but almost certainly the password itself is in the VBA/macro section. You and go there and search for the password and try to change it yourself. if you click alt-F11 that should open the VBA editor/environment and then on the left is a list of the workbooks that are open (and maybe some other things) if you don't see that try clicking ctrl-R to open the project explorer. double click an item is the workbook of interest to open a page of code (even if it is blank) and then hit ctrl-f to do a search. make sure you select entire project on the bottom left. search for the old password.
Other than that, I would need the workbook to help you.

[#4]

@mtarler  TY for ur response. It sounds like u understand my problem. I did Alt F11 and it opened the VBAProject window. But now that I’m here, there is nothing obvious on how to change the password. 

[#5]

@CVBBTreasurer again, without the actual book it is really hard for me to know.  Here is an example of what I'm talking about:

notice the window on the left has VBAProject (Quality Matrix-GLNT_2021- ....

and that project is opened

on the right I have a code window open, in this case it is the frmPassword 

in that code window you see I set a global constant sheetPW = "abc123"

I would expect that somewhere in their code they did something sort of like this and that is why I suggested you do a search for that old password.  so once you open any code window inside that project you hit ctrl-F and search for that password and select "Current Project" like so:

make sure that selection in the bottom left is set to "Current Project"

It is possible that password is actually on a sheet/tab and the macro(s) find it there so do the same thing from the excel sheet:

notice I expanded the "Options" and selected "Workbook" under the "Within" selection.

If the password is saved on a 'hidden' or 'very hidden' sheet it may not find it so you should right click on any tab and select 'unhide' and unhide all sheets. (this won't unhide very hidden but lets start with these steps)

[#6]

@mtarler I sent u a private message with a picture of my computer screen. Did u get it? I think I found what I’m looking for but need to confirm my next step. TY!!

[#7]

ah. got it. for some reason my PMs don't give me that notification so I often don't realize I got a new message right away.

[#8]

I sent u another message. But I’ll type it here too. I don’t think the password is my only issue. Google stopped supporting less secure apps which includes my excel. Do u think updated my excel would help, or perhaps using a different email?

[#9]

I have no idea what sort of protocol was used to log into the gmail and send the messages so not sure why it isn't working. You could also have a local mail client (application) on your computer that has the account information and send mail using that. Another option is to use Office 365 and then you have access to the additional MS apps either local or online.

[#10]

So with Office 365, would that include an MS email address?

[#11]

Yes I believe it does. Here is a link that might be helpful. It teaches and gives code to create a mail merge using excel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URF3ikW0Svc
Maybe you could use some of that code to create the e-mails