XL2000: Protect Method Password Is Not Applied to Worksheet

When you use the Protect method in a Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications macro to apply password protection to a worksheet, Microsoft Excel 2000 does not apply the password to the worksheet.

This problem occurs when all of the following conditions are true:

• You use a second ActiveSheet.Protect command that specifies a password in the macro.
  
  -and-
• You set all the arguments (Contents, Scenarios, and DrawingObjects) for the second ActiveSheet.Protect command to True.

NOTE: Microsoft Excel may not apply password protection, depending on the values of the arguments for the Protection statement. In some cases, Microsoft Excel applies worksheet protection but does not apply a password even if you specify a password in the macro.

To work around this problem, use either of the following methods.

Method 1

Use the ActiveSheet.Protect command only once and supply all the arguments, including the password. For example, use the following macro:

Method 2

Set one of the Protect method arguments to False. To do this, use either of the following methods:

• If the macro is recorded, click to clear one of the following check boxes: Contents, Objects, or Scenarios.
  
  -or-
• If the macro is manually typed, use the following syntax

  Sub ProtectSheet()
  
     ActiveSheet.Protect password:="pw", Contents:=True, _
        Scenarios:=False, DrawingObjects:=True, _
        UserInterfaceOnly:=True
  
  End Sub
  						

  to set Contents, Scenarios, or DrawingObjects to False.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

Microsoft Excel 2000 allows you to add an additional layer of protection by applying password protection to a previously protected sheet. You can add this protection programmatically.

In some earlier versions of Microsoft Excel, using the ActiveSheet.Protect command more than once has no effect. In Excel 2000, using the command a second time with a password applies password-level security to a previously protected sheet as long as the arguments for Contents, Scenarios, and DrawingObjects are not all set to True. When all the arguments are set to True, Excel protects the active sheet but does not apply password-level protection. The value of the UserInterfaceOnly argument has no effect on this behavior.

The following sample code demonstrates the problem:

For more information about protecting information in Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications programming, in the Visual Basic Editor, click Microsoft Visual Basic Help on the Help menu, type ways to protect sensitive information in the Office Assistant or the Answer Wizard, and then click Search to view the topic.