ExcelBanter - View Single Post - Excel protected workbook appears opaque to virus-scan?

Benno[_2_]

wrote:

I've just developed an Excel workbook with VBA in it, which has been
sent as a questionnaire to c. 400 associates nationwide, as an email
attachment.

Some users are not receiving these emails, because the email scanning
software in their organisation is objecting to the file.

The only thing I can imagine the security software objecting to is the
fact that the workbook and worksheets are "protected" with a password.
Now this is _not_ encryption: simply a cosmetic measure that prevents
users from changing certain features of the spreadsheet - anyone can
open the workbook and have a look at everything in it. (To repeat the
point: this is not a password-protected file, which requires a password
to be opened: workbook/worksheet protection is distinct from that).

The anti virus software or mail filters might not be 'smart' enough to
differentiate a read password from a write password and just block the
whole file outright (our Sophos/MailMarshal combo has this problem).

Remove the password altogether. You will still see emails getting
blocked on the VBA code however.