Frequently Asked Questions

This topic contains a collection of frequently asked questions and troubleshooting tips related to older versions or specific configurations of XLS Padlock.

👉 For more questions, see our other FAQ here.

This error may occur if the customer installed Office 365 over an older version of Office.

Solution: Tell your customer to try performing a repair of their Office installation. If that doesn’t work, they should use the Office Scrub utility from Microsoft, then reinstall Office 365. The scrub utility is available here.

This can happen if your workbook is saved on a cloud-synced drive like OneDrive, even if it appears to be on your local desktop. XLS Padlock requires files to be on a true local drive during development to prevent issues with cloud synchronization.

Solution: Move the workbook file from the virtual/cloud-synced folder to a standard local directory (e.g., C:\MyProjects\).

It is possible to register add-ins in .xll format by listing them as companion files. You must provide both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of your add-in, renaming their extensions as shown below so XLS Padlock can register the correct version at runtime:

• myaddin.xll32 (for 32-bit)
• myaddin.xll64 (for 64-bit)

Then, to load the add-in, use the following VBA code in your Workbook_Open event:

Private Sub Workbook_Open()
    Dim success As Boolean
    ' The PathToCompiledFile function is required.
    success = Application.RegisterXLL(PathToCompiledFile("myaddin.xll"))
End Sub

External applications cannot directly access companion files for security reasons. You must first copy the companion file to a temporary location and then open it from there.

Sub OpenWordDoc()
    Dim wordapp As Object
    Dim tempPath As String
    tempPath = Environ("temp") & "\MyCompanionDoc.docx"

    ' The PathToCompiledFile function is required.
    FileCopy PathToCompiledFile("MyCompanionDoc.docx"), tempPath

    Set wordapp = CreateObject("word.Application")
    wordapp.documents.Open tempPath
    wordapp.Visible = True
End Sub

Sub OpenPDF()
    Dim tempPath As String
    tempPath = Environ("temp") & "\MyPDFGuide.pdf"

    FileCopy PathToCompiledFile("MyPDFGuide.pdf"), tempPath
    ActiveWorkbook.FollowHyperlink tempPath
End Sub

XLS Padlock works with virtualization; the Excel file is never unpacked to a physical disk location. Therefore, ThisWorkbook.Path points to a virtual, non-existent path.

Solution: To get the real path of your application’s EXE file, use the PLEvalVar("EXEPath") function provided by the XLS Padlock API.

A .XLSCE save file stores numbers with the Windows regional format of the computer that saved it. Load it on a computer whose Windows regional format uses the same decimal separator: if save files move between computers with different settings, for example from a French to a US Windows, align the decimal separator in the Windows regional settings.

With applications compiled with earlier 2026 releases, decimal numbers could also be restored as text when the Excel display language and the Windows regional format use different decimal separators, such as Office in English on a French or German Windows. Re-pack the workbook with XLS Padlock 2026.3 or later to fix this: existing save files are valid and load correctly with the re-packed application.

While you can use an obfuscator, it only makes code harder to read; it doesn’t prevent copying. For true protection, you should use the integrated VBA Compiler in XLS Padlock. This removes the original VBA code entirely and replaces it with secure bytecode that cannot be run outside of your protected application.

This can happen when using XML maps because the schema is not correctly recognized after compilation.

Solution: In the XLS Padlock settings, go to “Formulas and Passwords” and enable the option “Use Excel automation for formula protection”.

This indicates the add-in is not correctly registered. Run the XLS Padlock Manager from your desktop. The first two indicators should be green. If not, follow the instructions provided by the manager. If the issue persists, reinstall XLS Padlock.

If your custom ribbon overrides the XLS Padlock tab, you can still access the tools by right-clicking on any worksheet tab. The context menu will contain an “XLS Padlock Tools” submenu.

This is a known bug with some Excel versions and locales.

Solution: Before saving your workbook, remove the Print_Area name from Excel’s Name Manager. Then, add the following VBA code to your workbook to clear it automatically:

Private Sub Workbook_Open()
    Dim Sh As Worksheet
    For Each Sh In ThisWorkbook.Worksheets
         With Sh
             .PageSetup.PrintArea = ""
             .PageSetup.PrintTitleRows = ""
         End With
    Next
End Sub

' Also add this for BeforeClose event
Private Sub Workbook_BeforeClose()
    Dim Sh As Worksheet
    For Each Sh In ThisWorkbook.Worksheets
         With Sh
             .PageSetup.PrintArea = ""
             .PageSetup.PrintTitleRows = ""
         End With
    Next
End Sub

Add Application.CellDragAndDrop = False to the Workbook_Open VBA event. To prevent users from changing this, also enable the “Forbid access to the VBA editor” option in XLS Padlock’s security settings.

By default, XLS Padlock hides the Developer ribbon. You can re-enable it by going to the “UI Customization” page and enabling “Show Developer Tab”.

This depends on the save mode you selected:

• Full Save Mode: Saved .XLSC files are complete snapshots. When a user loads their old save file, they will see their old data, not the updates from your new EXE. To manage this, you can either switch to Cell Values save mode or provide a VBA macro to help users transfer their data from the old version to the new one.
• Cell Values Save Mode: This mode is designed for this scenario. When a user loads their .XLSCE file with your new EXE, their saved cell values will be loaded into your updated workbook structure.

Yes. If you update your source workbook, you must recompile it and deploy the new EXE to your customers. XLS Padlock includes a Web Update feature that can automatically check for, download, and install the new EXE file for your users.

No. XLS Padlock works entirely offline on your computer. We never have access to your original workbook files. Always make your own backups.

Secure save files can only be opened by the protected EXE file. Users can:

• Run the EXE and click “Choose Save” when prompted.
• Drag the .XLSC file and drop it onto the EXE file’s icon.
• Use the command line: MYAPP.EXE "c:\my documents\mysave.xlsc"

Yes: F1: Help, F5: Build Application, F7: Save Project and Close

This applies to the WooCommerce Integration Kit.

• An Activation Key is what the end-user enters to activate the application (e.g., 735DH-H12E7-DDH8F-…).
• An Activation Token is a unique identifier for the customer’s record in the online database (e.g., [email protected]). The token is used by the online activation system to find the customer and issue an activation key.

Activation keys can be deactivated and blocked; tokens are permanent identifiers.

By default, these add-ins are disabled for security. You can allow them by going to the “Advanced Options” page and enabling the option “Do not disable the XLStart user folder”.

Re-pack the workbook with XLS Padlock 2026.2 or later and redistribute the EXE file. On some computers, applications compiled with earlier versions could close instantly, together with Excel, as soon as a Windows file dialog opened inside the application, most often when security software with behavioral protection was active. The fix lives in the runtime embedded in your application, so applications already distributed keep the old behavior until they are re-packed.

Applications compiled with XLS Padlock 2026.0 or 2026.1 could recalculate protected formulas that reference other cells in the wrong order, returning a wrong but plausible value with no error, because the Cell Dependencies choice was lost when the cell list was saved. Re-pack the workbook with XLS Padlock 2026.2 or later, which detects the dependencies of every protected formula by default and applies your Cell Dependencies choice again. See Protecting cells with XLS Padlock.

Open the EXE Code Signing page and, in the Azure Artifact Signing settings, click Exclude all except Azure CLI to fill in the Exclude credentials field (XLS Padlock 2026.2 or later), then sign again. This skips the credential types that can fail before the Azure CLI credential is tried and abort the signing with an error such as MsalCachePersistenceException: Persistence check failed. See How to Code Sign Your EXE File.

Since XLS Padlock 2026.3, Web Update files are signed with a key stored in your project file, and the compiled application must carry that key to verify its future updates. If the application you compiled earlier does not carry the project’s current key, for instance the first time you use 2026.3 on this project, click Protect to compile the workbook again, then click Generate Web Update Files. See Authenticated Updates.

Since XLS Padlock 2026.3, cells formatted as Text get their content back as text when a .XLSCE save file is loaded, exactly as in your original workbook, so values such as zip codes keep their leading zeros. If a Text-formatted cell holds a number, for instance a year such as 2014, Excel flags it, as it already does in your source workbook. Format such cells as General or Number if they are meant to hold numbers, then re-pack the workbook. See Save Mode.

Re-pack the workbook with XLS Padlock 2026.3 or later and redistribute the EXE file. This release fixes two intermittent startup problems that did not depend on the workbook:

• On some computers, depending on the graphics driver, applications compiled with XLS Padlock 2026.1 or 2026.2 could freeze while the workbook was being opened: the “Loading workbook, please wait…” dialog stayed on screen and Excel stopped responding.
• Applications compiled with XLS Padlock 2026.2 could close about half a second after Excel started, with no message, or keep running invisibly with high CPU usage, notably with Microsoft 365 Click-to-Run. Launching the application again usually worked.

The fixes live in the runtime embedded in your application, so applications already distributed keep the old behavior until they are re-packed.

Re-pack the workbook with XLS Padlock 2026.3 or later. A full workbook save file (.XLSC) keeps the protected formulas of the application that wrote it. With earlier versions, once the application had been compiled again, even from the same workbook and project, loading such a save file could make some protected formulas display #VALUE!: those compiled without cell dependencies, for instance formulas whose only references are named ranges, or cells set to No Dependency. The save files are valid and are not modified: they load correctly with the re-packed application.