Protecting Excel Files from Word

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated January 18, 2025)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


One of the hallmarks of the Office suite is that its applications all work together, and sometimes very seamlessly. For instance, you can easily open Excel files from within Word. Doing so, however, can wreak havoc on your original workbook when you later save the Excel workbook from within Word. (Word assumes that you will want to work on the file in Word in the future, and so makes changes to the document format. This then makes the workbook of little value in Excel.)

Of course, routinely trashing original workbook files by opening then in Word and then saving them again is a great way to ruin a day. It is also a great way to waste a lot of time and money. If you are in an organization, one way to protect your Excel files is to only makes copies of the workbook available to others. That way your original is intact, but the copies are free to be messed up.

If it is imperative that others get to the original workbook (perhaps to make changes in the data), the only way to protect an Excel file so it is not "openable" in Word is to disable the Excel file converter for Word. You do this by starting the Office Setup program, choosing to add/remove features, and then turning off the converter. (The exact way in which you do this depends on the version of Office you are using.) Generally the converter is in an area of Setup called Text Converters; look for a converter called "Microsoft Excel Converter."

Once the converter is removed from Word, you can again start the program, but you won't be able to load an Excel workbook into Word.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2624) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Hiding Table Gridlines, by Default

The edges to table cells are shown two ways in Word: gridlines and borders. Table gridlines are only seen in Word; they ...

Discover More

Determining If a Number is Odd or Even

Need to know if a number in a macro is odd or even? It's easy to figure out with the simple calculation shown in this tip.

Discover More

Automatic Row Height for Wrapped Text

When you format a cell so that the information within it can wrap to multiple lines, you may be surprised if Excel ...

Discover More

Dive Deep into Macros! Make Excel do things you thought were impossible, discover techniques you won't find anywhere else, and create powerful automated reports. Bill Jelen and Tracy Syrstad help you instantly visualize information to make it actionable. You’ll find step-by-step instructions, real-world case studies, and 50 workbooks packed with examples and solutions. Check out Microsoft Excel 2019 VBA and Macros today!

More ExcelTips (menu)

How Excel Treats Disk Files

Workbooks are loaded from disk files, but workbooks aren't the only type of files that Excel can load. This tip provides ...

Discover More

Odd Behavior when Opening a Shared File with a Shortcut

Tracking down a problem that occurs with a single workbook can be vexing. One such problem occurred with Chris, and these ...

Discover More

Aligning Cells when Importing from CSV

When you import information from a CSV text file, Excel formats the data according to its default settings. Wouldn't it ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is two minus 1?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the menu interface (Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, or Excel 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.