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Excel Password Quandary
#14413 02/27/11 11:45 PM
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ryck Offline OP
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This is about having one of those "Oh Crap!!" moments.

I have a multi-page Excel file that I wanted to send attached to an email. Therefore I thought I should Password Protect it.

I made a "Save As" copy under a different name and gave the copy a password. The name was the first letters of the words in a brief sentence plus four digits. The digits were a familiar year, but backwards.

When I tried to open the "Save As", it didn't recognize the password. I tried a couple of different things thinking perhaps I used the zero instead of the letter "O", or some other simple error. Nada.

I thought it'd be easier to start again so I trashed the "Save As" file but, when I went back later, even the original file was password protected. I thought, no problem, I'll just replace from Time Machine. No such luck.

Then I turned on my Super Duper drive and dragged a yesterday copy from it to the main drive. You guessed it, it wanted a password.

I then booted from my Super Duper drive and opened the original on that drive. Same thing.

I've just gone through about 160 variations of the simple sentence and year and am pretty sure I must have run across the password but no response.

So, now I'm wondering. Would Excel have got confused when the original protected file (the "Save As) got trashed?

Does the password get sent backwards through the Time Machine copies or is there a way for me to open an older version without the password?

MS Office 2004, Excel 11.6.2, OSX 10.6.6

ryck

Last edited by ryck; 02/28/11 12:01 AM.

ryck

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Re: Excel Password Quandary
ryck #14416 02/28/11 03:30 AM
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Sheesh! What a story.

I can't help you, but V1 posted an almost identical tale back in the "Old Country," complete with the details of a script he wrote that actually recovered his password; perhaps he'll be able to help you out.

(I think I remember him getting into adjacent keys as well as permutations of the keys he thought he had pressed.)


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In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Excel Password Quandary
artie505 #14418 02/28/11 10:23 AM
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Originally Posted By: artie505
Sheesh! What a story.

Yeah...Arthur Conan Doyle has nothing on me.

Originally Posted By: artie505
I think I remember him getting into adjacent keys as well as permutations of the keys the thought he had pressed.

Possible except that, with the "Confirm Password" process, I'd have to make the same mistake twice. That's more likely with a real typist than a deliberate two-finger-typist like myself. That's why I wonder if I've actually gone through the permutation, and found the original, but the software now doesn't recognize it.

ryck

Last edited by ryck; 02/28/11 10:25 AM.

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Re: Excel Password Quandary
ryck #14419 02/28/11 10:30 AM
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New Question

So that I don't miss any possibilities, I've been creating my variations on what the password error might be and listing them in another spreadsheet. Being a two-finger-typist I tried to save myself a little 'entry time' by copying and pasting from the Excel cells in the one sheet to the Password entry dialogue box.

Is there a chance that the dialogue box doesn't recognize a pasted password?

ryck

Last edited by ryck; 02/28/11 10:31 AM.

ryck

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Re: Excel Password Quandary
ryck #14421 02/28/11 11:57 AM
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Any chance that cursed PW is in your Keychain?


Harv
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Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Excel Password Quandary
Pendragon #14422 02/28/11 01:50 PM
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Good thought. I used the Keychain Access Panel to view my keychain and didn't see anything that said either Excel or Microsoft. I'm not "conversant in Keychain" so I assume that's as much as I can do to check.

I was hopeful your suggestion might solve what seems to to be a real mystery. Why did a copy in my Super Duper clone, made the day prior, want to see the password? The HD containing my SD clone is only turned on weekly (when I make the clone) and is off the rest of the time.

Therefore it was not turned on when I made the password. I'm preparing a note for the SD Support people and will advise.

ryck

Last edited by ryck; 02/28/11 01:51 PM.

ryck

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Re: Excel Password Quandary
ryck #14426 02/28/11 06:23 PM
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Originally Posted By: ryck
I'm preparing a note for the SD Support people and will advise.

I've had several bits of correspondence with Super Duper (and kudos to them for being really prompt with replies) but, so far, I haven't netted anything good.

The bottom line is that I am accessing the file on the Super Duper clone as I should but I am not getting the correct result. That is, I should get a copy that doesn't need the password but it is inexplicably always required.

My backup is the correct type to have a clean copy of the file and SD thought it must be a case of backing up after the change. However, that is not what happened. I very definitely backed up the day before.

So, I am wondering if the problem can be with Excel. In the past I have found that Microsoft tends to "take liberties" and I wonder if they might populate the password in places where it's not wanted - such as the SD clone.

Because it is a clone the Permissions are the same as my main drive:

System - Read and Write
Admin - Read and Write
Everyone - Read Only

Would the System Permission facilitate such an act?

Interestingly, a Get Info for the clone drive has the correct creation date and time (Saturday morning). However, it also says it was modified yesterday (Sunday) at 12:47. It was not modified by me. The only action I took was trying to open the Excel file.

ryck

Last edited by ryck; 02/28/11 06:33 PM.

ryck

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Re: Excel Password Quandary
ryck #14429 02/28/11 09:45 PM
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I was just able to log in to my Chase Bank account with a pasted password, but I remember having been unsuccessful (on some indeterminate website[s]) in the past; I wonder if it depends on the website?


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Excel Password Quandary
ryck #14430 02/28/11 09:48 PM
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> I used the Keychain Access Panel to view my keychain and didn't see anything that said either Excel or Microsoft. I'm not "conversant in Keychain" so I assume that's as much as I can do to check.

Give you keychain another look, and try to identify each item; you may find the one you're looking for with an unexpected "title."

Edit: In my instance, anyhow, each item in my keychain is readily identifiable in some way or other.

Last edited by artie505; 02/28/11 09:50 PM.

The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Excel Password Quandary
ryck #14431 02/28/11 09:53 PM
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> Interestingly, a Get Info for the clone drive has the correct creation date and time (Saturday morning). However, it also says it was modified yesterday (Sunday) at 12:47. It was not modified by me. The only action I took was trying to open the Excel file.

Is it possible that your SD clone updated automatically when you connected its drive to your Mac?


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Excel Password Quandary
artie505 #14433 02/28/11 10:32 PM
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Originally Posted By: artie505
Is it possible that your SD clone updated automatically when you connected its drive to your Mac?

That's what I'm wondering (i.e. Microsoft taking liberties) and I have asked at Super Duper but not heard yet.

If so, IMHO it borders on evasive. (oops...invasive)

ryck

UPDATE: I've just heard from Super Duper and they're out of ideas.

Last edited by ryck; 03/01/11 12:01 AM. Reason: spelling

ryck

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Re: Excel Password Quandary
artie505 #14434 02/28/11 10:37 PM
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Originally Posted By: artie505
Give you keychain another look, and try to identify each item; you may find the one you're looking for with an unexpected "title."

No luck there. I don't have that many and I checked them all.

ryck


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Re: Excel Password Quandary
ryck #14436 02/28/11 10:57 PM
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Originally Posted By: ryck
Originally Posted By: artie505
Is it possible that your SD clone updated automatically when you connected its drive to your Mac?

That's what I'm wondering (i.e. Microsoft taking liberties) and I have asked at Super Duper but not heard yet.

If so, IMHO it borders on evasive.

That's not what I meant; I was wondering whether you've got SD configured to update automatically whenever its drive is mounted...nothing to do with Microsoft. (I've got CCC configured to do its thing the sec my flash drive mounts.)


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Excel Password Quandary
ryck #14437 02/28/11 11:00 PM
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When you set up your password you were probably offered the opportunity to store it in your keychain and declined the offer.


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Excel Password Quandary
ryck #14438 03/01/11 12:06 AM
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Hello, ryck

This reply may be a false trail for you, but just in case anything in these links might be of help to you:

How to Remove Password Protection from a Microsoft Excel Worksheet File?

Change or remove a workbook password.


Back up everything you can't afford to lose: documents, mail, movies, music, photos, and other data and settings.
Re: Excel Password Quandary
artie505 #14439 03/01/11 12:14 AM
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Originally Posted By: artie505
I was wondering whether you've got SD configured to update automatically whenever its drive is mounted...nothing to do with Microsoft. (I've got CCC configured to do its thing the sec my flash drive mounts.)


I don't think so. SD support knows what kind of a back-up I do and I did ask if Excel could have automatically updated the file. They didn't know how it would do that.

The Preferences don't include any options for automatic updating.

ryck


ryck

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Re: Excel Password Quandary
artie505 #14440 03/01/11 12:15 AM
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Originally Posted By: artie505
When you set up your password you were probably offered the opportunity to store it in your keychain and declined the offer.

That's correct. Now there's a tough lesson to learn. But at least I won't forget.

ryck


ryck

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Re: Excel Password Quandary
dianne #14441 03/01/11 12:23 AM
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Originally Posted By: dianne
This reply may be a false trail for you, but just in case anything in these links might be of help to you:

Thank you, Dianne, for looking around on my behalf. I did see the first page (Dave Taylor) and have now looked at the second. The problem is that each requires me to be able to open the Workbook and view the Preferences.

I can't get that far. I get a small dialogue box that asks for the Password and, when the wrong one is entered, the box just goes away.

I'm beginning to think I'll need some heavy artillery. However, that seems to enter into some grey areas and Tacit has put enough of the Russian Mafia scare into me that I'm very, very wary.

ryck

Last edited by ryck; 03/01/11 12:28 AM.

ryck

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Re: Excel Password Quandary
ryck #14442 03/01/11 12:39 AM
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Originally Posted By: ryck
Originally Posted By: artie505
When you set up your password you were probably offered the opportunity to store it in your keychain and declined the offer.

That's correct. Now there's a tough lesson to learn. But at least I won't forget.

ryck

The down side to storing such a password in your keychain is that it's automatically entered whenever anybody tries to open the protected item, so if others have access to your Mac...


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Excel Password Quandary
ryck #14443 03/01/11 12:42 AM
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> The Preferences don't include any options for automatic updating.

That surprises me! shocked

So each time you mount your SD drive you've got to set up a new session?


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Excel Password Quandary
ryck #14444 03/01/11 12:53 AM
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Now, here's a thought... I'll guess that SD maintains a log in /Apps/Utils/Console, same as CCC.

If so, see if it tells you what, if anything, happened "yesterday (Sunday) at 12:47."

Maybe post the entire SD log from the period with which we're dealing and let us see whatever there is to see.


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Excel Password Quandary
artie505 #14445 03/01/11 12:57 AM
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> I've got CCC configured to do its thing the sec my flash drive mounts.

I'll correct myself... I have to click on "Proceed."


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: Excel Password Quandary
artie505 #14446 03/01/11 04:01 AM
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Originally Posted By: artie505
So each time you mount your SD drive you've got to set up a new session?

It's actually quite easy. I just open Super Duper and am presented with a dialogue box that has the settings I want (update files that have changed). I instruct it to proceed and it does everything including a Shutdown once finished.

ryck


ryck

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Re: Excel Password Quandary
artie505 #14447 03/01/11 04:10 AM
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Originally Posted By: artie505
Now, here's a thought... I'll guess that SD maintains a log in /Apps/Utils/Console, same as CCC.

Maybe post the entire SD log from the period with which we're dealing and let us see whatever there is to see.

Okay....when I opened Console (new experience) from the SD drive, the left side has a wide variety of possible reports. Some are verrry long. Am I looking for something that is specifically Super Duper? If so, I couldn't find one.

Any hints?

ryck


ryck

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Re: Excel Password Quandary
ryck #14448 03/01/11 05:22 AM
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Originally Posted By: ryck
Originally Posted By: artie505
Now, here's a thought... I'll guess that SD maintains a log in /Apps/Utils/Console, same as CCC.

Maybe post the entire SD log from the period with which we're dealing and let us see whatever there is to see.

Okay....when I opened Console (new experience) from the SD drive, the left side has a wide variety of possible reports. Some are verrry long. Am I looking for something that is specifically Super Duper? If so, I couldn't find one.

Any hints?

ryck

Hmmm... I just found this, which, among other things, says:
Quote:
To find the path for your SuperDuper! saved settings, simply open up SuperDuper! with the saved settings, select the "Show Log" command from the "Window" menu. Then hold the Command key and click on the name of the log in the title bar and a pop-up list will display, select the parent folder (i.e. Logs").

(Unfortunately, there don't seem to be any recent docs dealing with the subject.)

Jon, other SD users... What say you about where SD stores its logs?


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
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