By G.D.G. Software
XLS Padlock 2025.0: what changed
XLS Padlock 2025.0 is a substantial update built around customer feedback. It brings new capabilities, security improvements, and refined workflows for protecting your Excel spreadsheets.
This version focuses on the areas you asked for. Here is what changed.
Multilingual support, for the tool and your compiled apps
XLS Padlock 2025.0 adds multilingual support for both you and your end users:
The main XLS Padlock interface you use to build your protected applications is now multilingual. It automatically detects your Windows display language and switches accordingly when a translation is available. You can also manually select your preferred language in the settings.
We also updated several languages (.SIL format) for your compiled Workbook Applications: your protected Excel applications can present their interfaces (dialog boxes, messages) in the language you define. You can still fully customize the texts displayed.
Currently supported languages:
- English
- French
- Spanish
- Portuguese
- Dutch
- German
- Arabic (with right-to-left support)
Need another language? This feature was built to be extensible. If you need XLS Padlock or your compiled applications to support a language not listed above, let us know. We add new languages based on customer requests.
New standalone package format
The new standalone executable format simplifies distribution. To reduce antivirus false positives on non-signed EXE files, we changed the executable format XLS Padlock produces and switched to 7z compression (the same engine as 7-Zip) for smaller EXE files, dropping UPX.
XLS Padlock still turns your Excel workbook into a single, easy-to-distribute .exe file. The runtime extracts only when needed, which reduces clutter for your end users. The EXE Universal mode was also reworked to simplify the workflow.
Simpler bundle app format
If you choose the EXE+XPLAPP bundle format, the 64-bit executable loader is now a separate, digitally signed .bin64 file. This means distributing three files (.exe, .bin64, .xlpapp), but the cleaner structure is recognized more reliably by security software.
Cloud certificate support for signing
XLS Padlock 2025 gives you more options for EXE code signing.
You can now use modern, lower-cost cloud-based code signing certificates. We added built-in support for Microsoft Azure Trusted Signing: for less than 10 USD per month, you can sign your EXE files automatically with a certificate provided and supported by Microsoft.
XLS Padlock 2025 also integrates Microsoft SignTool.exe, so you can sign your applications using certificates stored in the cloud or on hardware tokens managed by SignTool.
Traditional signing with local certificates or hardware tokens is still available. We dropped outdated SHA-1 signing and now rely on SHA-256 signatures, in line with Microsoft guidelines.
Other enhancements and fixes in 2025.0
Beyond the headline features, this version includes:
- Updated help: Documentation now ships in a modern viewer application instead of the outdated Windows HTML Help Viewer. Context-sensitive help is improved: press F1 or the Help button in XLS Padlock to open the related topic.
- Refreshed UI: A cleaner interface that complements the new multilingual capabilities, with the resizing problems on some UI controls fixed.
- Improved OneDrive handling: Clearer warnings when working with cloud-only OneDrive files.
- Web updates: Fixed the restart logic after updates when “Allow one instance” is active.
- Localization fixes: Addressed untranslated text elements and improved language file handling.
- Compression: Removed UPX compression to minimize antivirus conflicts.
- Bug fixes: Fixed issues with sheet protection, locked cell interaction, certificate deactivation, and universal icons for greater stability. Dropped EnkySL dongle support.
Upgrade to XLS Padlock 2025.0
Existing users: Download XLS Padlock 2025.0 for free if your maintenance is still active. If not, you can renew it at a discount.
New users: Download the free trial or buy XLS Padlock.
Tell us what you think of this version, and which languages you would like added next, through our feedback forum or our contact form.
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