Encrypt and Decrypt Excel Files in Java

This blog demonstrates how to encrypt and decrypt Excel Files in Java using Free Spire.XLS for Java library.

Installation

First of all, you need to download spire.xls.jar and add it to your project as dependency. If you use maven, you need to add the following dependencies to your pom.xml file.

<repositories>

        <repository>

            <id>com.e-iceblue</id>

            <name>e-iceblue</name>

            <url>http://repo.e-iceblue.com/nexus/content/groups/public/</url>

        </repository>

</repositories>

<dependencies>

    <dependency>

        <groupId>e-iceblue</groupId>

        <artifactId>spire.xls.free</artifactId>

        <version>2.2.0</version>

    </dependency>

</dependencies>

Encrypt Excel file

Free Spire.XLS for Java supports the following encrypt options:

• Encrypt the whole excel file with password
• Encrypt a certain worksheet with password
• Lock particular cells in a worksheet

Encrypt the whole excel file with password

import com.spire.xls.ExcelVersion;
import com.spire.xls.Workbook;

public class EncryptExcel {
    public static void main(String[] args){
        //Create a workbook instance and load an Excel file
        Workbook workbook = new Workbook();
        workbook.loadFromFile("Sample.xlsx");

        //Encrypt the file with password
        workbook.protect("pwd");

        //Save the file
        workbook.saveToFile("EncryptExcelFile.xlsx", ExcelVersion.Version2013);
    }
}

Encrypt a certain worksheet with password

import com.spire.xls.ExcelVersion;
import com.spire.xls.SheetProtectionType;
import com.spire.xls.Workbook;
import com.spire.xls.Worksheet;

import java.util.EnumSet;

public class EncryptExcel {

    public static void main(String[] args){

        //Create a workbook and load an Excel file
        Workbook workbook = new Workbook();
        workbook.loadFromFile("Sample.xlsx");

        //Get the first worksheet
        Worksheet sheet = workbook.getWorksheets().get(0);

        //Encrypt the first sheet with password
        sheet.protect("pwd", EnumSet.of(SheetProtectionType.All));

        //Save the file
        workbook.saveToFile("EncryptWorksheet.xlsx", ExcelVersion.Version2013);
    }
}

Lock particular cells in a worksheet

import com.spire.xls.ExcelVersion;
import com.spire.xls.SheetProtectionType;
import com.spire.xls.Workbook;
import com.spire.xls.Worksheet;

import java.util.EnumSet;

public class EncryptExcel {
    public static void main(String[] args){
        //Create a workbook instance and load an Excel file
        Workbook workbook = new Workbook();
        workbook.loadFromFile("Sample.xlsx");

        //Get the first worksheet
        Worksheet sheet = workbook.getWorksheets().get(0);

        //Lock a particular cell
        sheet.getCellRange("B3").getCellStyle().setLocked(true);

        //Encrypt the worksheet
        sheet.protect("TestPassword", EnumSet.of(SheetProtectionType.All));

        //Save the file
        workbook.saveToFile("output/ProtectCell.xlsx", ExcelVersion.Version2010);
    }
}

Decrypt Excel file

We can decrypt an Excel file as well as decrypt an Excel worksheet.

The following example shows how to decrypt an Excel file:

import com.spire.xls.Workbook;

public class DecryptExcel {
    public static void main(String[] args){
        //Create a workbook
        Workbook workbook = new Workbook();

        //Load an Excel file with password
        workbook.setOpenPassword("pwd");
        workbook.loadFromFile("EncryptExcelFile.xlsx");

        //Decrypt the Excel file
        workbook.unProtect();

        //Save the file
        workbook.saveToFile("DecryptExcelFile.xlsx");
    }
}

The following example shows how to decrypt an Excel worksheet:

import com.spire.xls.Workbook;
import com.spire.xls.Worksheet;

public class EncryptExcel {
    public static void main(String[] args){
        //Create a workbook instance and load an Excel file with decrypted worksheet
        Workbook workbook = new Workbook();
        workbook.loadFromFile("EncryptWorksheet.xlsx");

        //Get the first worksheet
        Worksheet sheet = workbook.getWorksheets().get(0);

        //Decrypt the first worksheet
        sheet.unprotect("pwd");

        //Save the file
        workbook.saveToFile("DecryptWorksheet.xlsx");
    }
}