How to protect a workbook with a password in Excel?

Dear Sir, === All previously mentioned solutions for your question will definitely secure your excel work sheets from other users, as our colleagues said: أدم محمد أدم mountains, ramadan abdullah and Himanshu Kachhwaha Himanshu, and I am in agreement to their suggestions because I always recommend those solutions to protect my files from time to time.
=== As we know, password will protect your Excel worksheet by preventing others from tampering with your data, while the best option for you is never store really sensitive information in an Excel spreadsheet.
Why? For the simple reason that Excel passwords can easily be cracked.
This is because Excel uses a very weak form of encryption that can easily be broken use dictionary attacks and brute force attacks.
=== If you absolutely must use Excel to store sensitive information, then it’s always better to use the latest version of Excel, which is Excel2013 or Excel2010.
The older the version of Excel, the easier it gets to crack the password.
In versions below Excel2010, it doesn't even matter how complicated or long your password it, anything can be cracked.
=== However, later versions of Excel use more sophisticated methods of encryption and therefore the password length and complexity does matter.
So it’s best to use longer passwords that are more random in nature and that include numbers and symbols.
=== The other option you have to really secure an Excel file is to use a program like TrueCrypt.
This will create a virtual encrypted disk on your hard drive in which you can store sensitive files, and anyone is trying to crack that encryption will find it nearly impossible.
=== According to me, I actually add a password to an Excel file.
When using Microsoft Excel, there are a couple of different ways that you can password protect your spreadsheet or workbook: -
1- "Protect Sheet" or "Protect Workbook": this is one of the easiest methods, and this can be applied by clicking on the Protect Sheet or Protect Workbook options, which are one of Toolbar options on MS Excel ribbon.
Adjust your selected password to protect the entire sheet or workbook.
= Note: -a)- To do this in Microsoft Excel2007, first go to the Review tab and then click on.
When a pop-up window appears, select your options and type in the desired password.
-b)- Your password can be something random that no one would ever suspect: In latest versions of Excel2010 and2013, use a good password policies; which means longer passwords with different types of characters, numbers and symbols.
In addition, try to make the password as random as possible and use a password manager to keep track of your passwords c)- In order to remember your password, use a password manager program like LastPass, which is super secure.
-
2- The Entire Workbook protection: in similar pattern of our colleagues' discussion, and briefly explained by : clicking on File, then Save As.
When the file-save window appears, type in your file name, then select the Tools drop down menu.
From that menu, select General Options.
= This will enable you to password protect the entire workbook and prevent anyone else from opening it and viewing its contents.
At this point, you have two layers of protection: one at the sheet level and one at the workbook level.
Now, whenever you want to open that protected Excel file, you will first see a screen like the one below asking for your password.
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3- Store the file itself in a secure location on your computer like an encrypted hard drive.
=== Overall, using Excel security with simple password protection is not enough to secure it.
You need better encryption with higher versions of Excel, longer and more random passwords, and extra encryption on top of the security provided by Excel.
If you follow these security practices, your can rest assured no one will be able to open your Excel file.
===if you open The older versions of Excel by Excel Starter2010 , like Excel XML Spreadsheet2003 file format (.xml), this will not retain the Password-protected worksheet data feature you have added to before.
=== When you save the file in OpenDocument Spreadsheet (.ods) format and open it again in Excel (.xlsx) format (2007 ,2010 or2013 versions) protection without a password is supported.
However, files with a password-protected sheet cannot be saved or opened, this might be due to formatting differences.
=== Otherwise, if you plan to save your Excel worksheet ( at2007,2010 or2013 editions) in the OpenDocument Spreadsheet format, and want to protect it from encryption, the .ods will not support the protective process you added and you may risk losing content.

there are2 ways:
1- from option select security -password to open inter it & save
2- select save as from tools select general option & inter password & click save

Step1 - Go to Office button then select Prepare.
Step2 - Then select Restrict Permission and then select Restricted access consequently.
Step3 - Then a small window will be opened asking for password.
Pls Note that you must have updated your O.S with Windows Rights Management before conducting the above mentioned steps.

Securing data is a tiered process, with password-protection at the file level, as the bottom level.
It’s a first step effort, but certainly not the only step you should take to protect confidential and proprietary data.
Password protecting an Excel workbook (file level) controls access in two ways: It lets a user in and it lets a user save changes.
Before we discuss Excel’s password protection feature, let’s clarify just what we mean by security.
Although the terms security and protection are bantered about interchangeably, feature-wise in Excel, they aren’t the same thing.
Security lets you choose who gets in and by virtue of doing so, who doesn’t.
Protection limits users who are already in.
Security is about access, protection is about maintaining integrity.
To assign a password to an Excel workbook, do the following:1.From the File menu, choose Save As.
In Excel2007, click the Office button and choose Save As.
In2010, click the File tab and choose Save As.2.Click the Tools dropdown on the dialog toolbar and choose Save Options.
In Excel2007 and2010, click the Tools dropdown (in the bottom left corner of the dialog box).
In Windows7, the Tools dropdown will be just to the left of the Save button.3.In the resulting dialog, you can set two passwords: one to open the workbook and one to modify the workbook.
Advanced options let you set encryption options for added security.4.Enter one or both passwords and click OK.5.Confirm each password and click OK.6.Click Save.
Setting a password to open the workbook is self-explanatory; if a user doesn’t know the password, he or she can’t open the file.
That gives you a great deal of control, if you do a reasonable job of securing passwords.
Of course, you can’t really do anything about the user who shares a password, but that’s an altogether different problem.
Just remember that this password only keeps users out; a user that knows this password has access to all the data and can modify the data once in.
That’s where the second password comes in.
By assigning this password, you can allow users to open the workbook and view the data, but withhold permission to actually modify the workbook.
A user who knows this password can view and modify data and also save changes to the workbook.
A user who doesn’t know the password can still view the data, but it’s Read-Only—sort of.
This user can still modify data, but the password-protected workbook won’t let the user save changes—sort of.
Here’s the deal: A user without the modifying password can still view, modify, and save changes, if the user can get in.
This user just can’t save the changes to the protected workbook.
The user can however, enter a new name and create a new workbook.
Important considerations Before you start password protecting all your workbooks, there are three important things to keep in mind: •Anyone with the password to modify the workbook can also remove the password protection! Use this particular option wisely.
•Casual users won’t have the expertise to crack your password, but anybody can purchase password-cracking software.
Your best protection against this type of tampering (or outright theft) is to assign a ridiculously long password of random characters.
Doing so won’t defeat specialized software, but it will slow it down and that delay might cause the would-be cracker to put your workbook aside.
On the other hand, it’s sure to annoy your valid users.
Balancing the two needs can be a bit of a high-wire act.
For more on this subject, read Strong passwords–realistic or burdensome.
•If you forget your password, you can’t get into your workbook and make changes, but you can purchase the password-cracking software.
Excel’s password protection is a great feature and fortunately, it’s easy to implement.
Just don’t confuse it with sheet protection and by all means, don’t rely solely on it to secure sensitive data.

If you want a true (professional) protection; then you need this software ( http://bit.ly/18xfanN ). I used (older version) in a project. I will give it five stars.

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first prepare work book, then go to review, protect worksheet, put a password in MS Excel2010