Encrypt and Decrypt Excel Files using C#

Encrypt Decrypt Excel Files

MS Excel provides an encryption mechanism to protect the data in the spreadsheets from unauthorized users. Along with applying encryption, you can specify the password that is required to open the Excel files. This article covers how to perform the encryption of Excel files from within .NET applications. Particularly, you will learn how to encrypt and decrypt the Excel files using C#.

C# API to Encrypt or Decrypt Excel Files

In order to perform encryption and decryption operations on Excel files, this article uses Aspose.Cells for .NET API. The API provides simple ways of encrypting and password protecting Excel files with the desired encryption type. You can either download the API or install it within your .NET applications using NuGet.

Install-Package Aspose.Cells

Encrypt Excel Files using C#

Aspose.Cells for .NET supports SHA and AES encryption types in order to encrypt Excel files in the same way as MS Excel does. For Excel 2003 files, you can choose between the following encryption types:

  • XOR
  • Compatible (Office 97/2000 compatible)
  • Enhanced Cryptographic Provider V1
  • Strong Cryptographic Provider

The following are the steps to encrypt an Excel file using C#.

The following code sample shows how to encrypt Excel file using C#.

Decrypt Excel Files using C#

The following are the steps to decrypt Excel files using Aspsoe.Cells for .NET API.

The following code sample shows how to decrypt an Excel file using C#.

Verify Password of Encrypted Excel File using C#

Aspose.Cells for .NET also allows you to verify the password of the encrypted Excel files. For this, you can follow the below steps.

The following code sample shows how to verify password of an encrypted Excel file using C#.

Get a Free License

You can get a free temporary license in order to try the API without evaluation limitations.

Conclusion

In this article, you have learned how to encrypt and decrypt Excel files using C# from within .NET applications. Furthermore, you have seen how to verify the password of the encrypted Excel files. You can explore more about the C# Excel automation API using documentation.

See Also