On 5/4/24 08:26, Rich Shepard wrote:
> A state agency provides a Microsoft .xlsx spreadsheet on a web site page.
> It's available to the public. When I tried to save it as a LO Calc
> spreadsheet (.ods) it told me it was password protected; a dialog box asks
> me to re-enter my (non-existent) password. It also will not allow me to
> export it as an .xls file.
>
> This is the first password-protected spreadsheet I've encountered. I don't
> understand why it's protected but the data should be in a database, not a
> spreadsheet, but this is another very common example of "if the only tool
> you have is Excel, everything looks like a spreadsheet."
>
> Any ideas on how to proceed?
>
From one of the many Libreofice help forums (edited for details and
clarity):
To save-as xlsx to ods, and the "retype" password box pops up with "Hash
incompatible" message:
Open Excel spreadsheet in Calc, Then File -> Save As to save as a new
ods file. When the "retype" window pops up, for each protected sheet do:
click on “retype”
clear “New password must match the original password” checkbox
type anything, e.g., “a” as both password and confirm
(Note: remove password from from this protected item does not work)
The ods is now saved with new sheet password ("a" in above example).
Now, in the newly saved and open ods file, for each protected sheet
(padlock next to sheet name), right-click and choose “protect”, enter
the password (“a” in the above example). Your sheets are now not
protected and you can carry on as normal.
Rich, if you need, I can upload the ods file somewhere for you to download.
-Ed
