Microsoft Excel ignores protectWorkbook ?

[SimpleAddress4390]

I've run all the online examples. I asked a friend to try on their machine. I tried on my office machine.

Am I doing something wrong? None of the sheets has any prompt for password, or read-only ....

library(openxlsx)

df = data.frame(Year = c(2018,2019,2020,2018,2019,2020,2018,2019,2020),
Country = c("Germany","Germany","Germany", "Japan", "Japan", "Japan", "Thailand", "Thailand", "Thailand"),
Count = c(17, 15, 60, 23, 25, 60, 50, 18, 31))
wb = createWorkbook()
addWorksheet(wb, "Master")
writeDataTable(wb, "Master", df, tableStyle = "TableStyleLight9")
protectWorkbook(wb, type=2)
saveWorkbook(wb, "ReadOnly.xlsx", overwrite = TRUE)

wb <- createWorkbook()
addWorksheet(wb, "S1")
protectWorkbook(wb, protect = TRUE, password = "6%220b*235apple", lockStructure = TRUE)
saveWorkbook(wb, "WorkBook_Protection.xlsx", overwrite = TRUE)

#openXL(wb)

df = data.frame(Year = c(2018,2019,2020,2018,2019,2020,2018,2019,2020),
Country = c("Germany","Germany","Germany", "Japan", "Japan", "Japan", "Thailand", "Thailand", "Thailand"),
Count = c(17, 15, 60, 23, 25, 60, 50, 18, 31))

wb = createWorkbook()
addWorksheet(wb, "Master")
writeDataTable(wb, "Master", df, tableStyle = "TableStyleLight9")
yellow_style = createStyle(fgFill = "#FFFF00")
y = which(colnames(df) == "Count")
x = which(abs(df$Count) > 32)
addStyle(wb, sheet = "Master", style = yellow_style, rows = x+1, col = y)

protectWorkbook(wb, protect = TRUE, password = "6%220b*235apple", lockStructure = TRUE)
saveWorkbook(wb, "Master.xlsx", overwrite = TRUE)

#openXL(wb)

wb <- createWorkbook()
addWorksheet(wb, "main")
writeDataTable(wb, "main", head(iris), tableStyle = "TableStyleLight9")

disables the ability to add or remove sheets from the workbook

protectWorkbook(wb, protect = TRUE, password = "6%220b*235apple", lockStructure = TRUE)

locks the sheet against any modification, see link above for fine tuning

protectWorksheet(wb, "main", protect = TRUE, password = "6%220b*235apple")
tmp <- temp_xlsx()
saveWorkbook(wb, tmp, overwrite = TRUE)

#openXL(tmp)

#openXL(wb)

[JanMarvin]

Hi @SimpleAddress4390 ,

I haven’t tinkered with the specific openxlsx function, but if I recall correctly, it was required to add another xml string to prompt for the password. But I don’t remember if we ever added that to the package. Maybe have a look at openxlsx2 it should work there.

And just to let you know, you should probably not use that password anymore.

[SimpleAddress4390]

Thanks. I'll check it out in openxlsx2. (The password was fake, but thanks for the reminder.) regards

…

On Thu, May 28, 2026 at 1:23 PM Jan Marvin Garbuszus < ***@***.***> wrote: *JanMarvin* left a comment (ycphs/openxlsx#537) <#537 (comment)> Hi @SimpleAddress4390 <https://github.com/SimpleAddress4390> , I haven’t tinkered with the specific openxlsx function, but if I recall correctly, it was required to add another xml string to prompt for the password. But I don’t remember if we ever added that to the package. Maybe have a look at openxlsx2 it should work there. And just to let you know, you should probably not use that password anymore. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#537?email_source=notifications&email_token=ABWXT23VC6NIENKY3H6TG3345AHSZA5CNFSNUABFM5UWIORPF5TWS5BNNB2WEL2JONZXKZKDN5WW2ZLOOQXTINJWGMYDONZQG4YKM4TFMFZW63VHNVSW45DJN5XKKZLWMVXHJLDGN5XXIZLSL5RWY2LDNM#issuecomment-4563077070>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ABWXT2YLS6WEUGS2GAVWGLD45AHSZAVCNFSM6AAAAACZQT6HSKVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHM2DKNRTGA3TOMBXGA> . You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[SimpleAddress4390]

Solution: (using openxlsx2)
wb <- wb_load("workbook.xlsx")
wb <- wb_protect(wb, type = 2L, file_sharing = TRUE, read_only_recommended = TRUE)
wb_save(wb, "WorkBook_Protection.xlsx", overwrite = TRUE)

[SimpleAddress4390]

Solution: (using openxlsx2)
wb <- wb_load("workbook.xlsx")
wb <- wb_protect(wb, type = 2L, file_sharing = TRUE, read_only_recommended = TRUE)
wb_save(wb, "WorkBook_Protection.xlsx", overwrite = TRUE)