Excel Software’s (www.excelsoftware.com) OfficeProtect 3.0, software to protect and license Microsoft Excel documents, has been revved to version 3.0, adding support for Mac Office 2011 or 2016. It also adds an additional layer of protection.
Using OfficeProtect with either QuickLicense or AppProtect, a user-editable Excel spreadsheet is converted into a protected application (EXE on Windows or APP on Mac). The software supports 32 or 64-Bit Microsoft Excel 2007 or later on Windows and both Office 2011 and 2016 on Macs. For additional protection, the Microsoft encryption password can be applied transparently by the protected application during the launch process.
OfficeProtect includes step-by-step tutorials and a troubleshooting guide to support developers that distribute and sell their workbooks. Protected workbooks support offline activation, online activation, a floating license server and USB dongle based activation using the MakeDongle product.
OfficeProtect supports two protection models: the VBA Bound License and Encrypted XLSM. A VBA Bound License uses password protected VBA code to bind an Office document to the QuickLicense runtime file. The Encrypted XLSM approach allows an Excel spreadsheet to be distributed as an application that’s activated for a specific computer, but allows editing changes to be saved as encrypted documents.
The VBA Bound License supports Excel spreadsheets, Macros or Add-Ins for Excel, Word or PowerPoint. OfficeProtect includes ready-to-paste Visual Basic code and step-by-step instructions to bind a document to a license configured with QuickLicense.
Password removal tools used to pirate Excel spreadsheets are disabled when distributing a workbook as an application file. Most features of the Excel program are unaffected except for the ability to Save or Email an unprotected spreadsheet. Encrypted spreadsheets are openned by launching the application and saved when quitting.
Protected documents can be saved, duplicated and renamed. They can be shared and used on other computers with a valid license. The spreadsheet author can determine how many computers a document or family of documents can be used on. QuickLicense supports computer specific product activation, time or execution limited Trial licenses, software subscriptions, floating licenses, secure license portability and human language or brand customization.
Protected workbooks can be activated with a Serial Number using an online activation server. The Safe Activation service supports activation of Internet connected or unconnected computers, online order processing and automates license management features to allow license release, restore, suspend and subscription management. Protected workbooks can also be activated with the self-hosted WebActivation or Desktop License Server products.
OfficeProtect costs US$395 for a single user license that supports Microsoft Office on both Mac and Windows. It must be used with either AppProtect or QuickLicense. The product includes PDF user guides, VBA interface code and royalty-free distribution rights for any number of protected documents or distributed licenses.