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Inport Excel password protected files

We've had several requests from clients for the ability to import password protected Excel spreadsheets into Alteryx.  Within Alteryx, it would be good to specify the password and inport the file without the need to create an unprotected copy for use in Alteryx.

Thanks

31 Comments
DanHare
11 - Bolide

Hit this today with a new client, would be very helpful.

 

Thanks !

RobG
5 - Atom

We are looking to use Alteryx to consolidate some 900+ .xlsx files on a monthly basis, all the files are password protected, as they can contain Personal Identifyable Information (PII) and this is a minium standard we apply for such data.

Can someone at Alteryx please get back to us asap, to let us know if and when the ability to unprotect a xlsx (or xls) within a workflow will be made available?

 

We would also welcome the ability to create .xlsx (and .xls) and password protect these files from with a workflow.

 

We would be happy to be a beta tester for this function.

 

Thanks in anticiation.

Rob

Samuel_To
10 - Fireball

Great to have this function in the coming version upgrade.

 

Best Regards,

Samuel

RobG
5 - Atom

Hi Samuel,

Which specific version are you referring to?

 

Thanks

Rob

ARich
Alteryx Alumni (Retired)
Status changed to: Not Planned

Hi All,

 

After doing some research on this, we have determined that it's very difficult to implement due to security concerns. At this time, we will not be implementing this.

 

Best,

Alex

Jeisolly112
5 - Atom

If the password is any longer than 4 characters and more than just a dictionary word, good luck, I hope you have a patient attitude, because it can take weeks of brute force dictionary attacking, like iseepassword: https://www.iseepassword.com/recover-ms-excel-password.html

 

Even utilising some dodgy software that can use a high end GPU for raw number crunching. Id suggest if its not ultimately business critical, slap the user and tell them you'll learn next time to NOT forget it. Brutal but necessary, you really don't want to be pulled into this kind of task, its painful.

Abisayi
5 - Atom

 hi Alex,

Is this functionality ready for use? If not, when is it expected to be released?

 

Thanks

Abi

 

Hi All,

 

We are actively investigating adding this and will have more details in the next couple of months. We're hoping to have this by the end of this year/early next year.

 

Best,

Alex

Jim7
8 - Asteroid

Unfortunately, they recently announced that it won't be possible to add this functionality to Alteryx:

 

After doing some research on this, we have determined that it's very difficult to implement due to security concerns. At this time, we will not be implementing this.

There are ways to get around it, for example I have called a macro from Access but it's a shame we can't get it done internal to Alteryx.

aristiguieta
8 - Asteroid

Last comment is a little over 3 months old, do we have any updates on this?

In addition to excel, I'm getting questions regarding using encrypted databases.

 

thanks for the sustained effort in getting this,

 

PeterA
Alteryx Alumni (Retired)

There have been some fun community contributions and macros to this thread, so I thought I would publish out one more quick tutorial (R code) for those looking for a simple work around.

https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Designer-Discussions/A-quick-tip-for-reading-in-password-pr...