How to: Password-Protecting an Invoice Template

Adding a password to your invoice template is an easy way to keep your data safe from unauthorized users.

Excel 2003

1. Open your invoice template.
2. Click Excel menu Tools and select Options.
3. When the Options dialog box appears, click the Security tab.

   
   Password-protect an invoice template - Figure 1
   (Click to enlarge)

4. Next, type your password in the Password To Open field. If you want to make your password harder to break, click the Advanced button and choose from a variety of encryption methods.

   
   Password-protect an invoice template - Figure 2
   (Click to enlarge)

5. Back in the Options dialog box, click OK to set the password. Excel asks you to reenter the password to confirm it.
6. Save the invoice template by clicking Excel menu File -> Save.

Excel 2000

In Excel 2000, you can set the password by the following steps: Click Excel menu File -> Save As, select Tools -> General Options when the Save As dialog box appears. Enter your password in the Password to open field.

Excel 2007

To encrypt your template and set a password to open it:

1. Click the Microsoft Office button , point to Prepare, and then click Encrypt Document.
2. In the Password box, enter a password, and then click OK.

   Password can be up to 255 characters. By default, this feature uses AES 128-bit advanced encryption. Encryption is a standard method used to help make your file more secure.

3. In the Reenter password box, type the password again, and then click OK.
4. Save the file to apply the password to the template.