I have created a complex spreadsheet with a lot of functionality. I believe
others in my industry might be interested in purchasing this spreadsheet to
use in their operations.

Is there a way to put a license or protect it in some way to prevent those
who purchase it from giving it to others to put on their computer? Perhaps a
window asking for a key and maybe even an expiration date.

I was also thinking of allowing a trial use of the spreadsheet. Can the
ability to open the sheet have an expiration date?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

In general there is no internal XL security that can't be bypassed by a
moderately interested person who can find these newsgroups. See:

http://www.mcgimpsey.com/excel/removepwords.html

and

http://www.mcgimpsey.com/excel/fileandvbapwords.html

Your best bet for anti-piracy would be to redesign and compile your
spreadsheet as a COM add-in.


In article ,
Diane wrote:

I have created a complex spreadsheet with a lot of functionality. I believe
others in my industry might be interested in purchasing this spreadsheet to
use in their operations.

Is there a way to put a license or protect it in some way to prevent those
who purchase it from giving it to others to put on their computer? Perhaps a
window asking for a key and maybe even an expiration date.

I was also thinking of allowing a trial use of the spreadsheet. Can the
ability to open the sheet have an expiration date?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Just what I was looking for!! Thank you (and thank you for the links!!)

"JE McGimpsey" wrote:

In general there is no internal XL security that can't be bypassed by a
moderately interested person who can find these newsgroups. See:

http://www.mcgimpsey.com/excel/removepwords.html

and

http://www.mcgimpsey.com/excel/fileandvbapwords.html

Your best bet for anti-piracy would be to redesign and compile your
spreadsheet as a COM add-in.


In article ,
Diane wrote:

I have created a complex spreadsheet with a lot of functionality. I believe
others in my industry might be interested in purchasing this spreadsheet to
use in their operations.

Is there a way to put a license or protect it in some way to prevent those
who purchase it from giving it to others to put on their computer? Perhaps a
window asking for a key and maybe even an expiration date.

I was also thinking of allowing a trial use of the spreadsheet. Can the
ability to open the sheet have an expiration date?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.