Apache OpenOffice (AOO) Bugzilla – Issue 39527
Saving Ms-Office documents with password protection
Last modified: 2013-02-03 15:06:31 UTC
Why it's possible opening a Microsoft Office document with password but later you can only save it without password? In fact OpenOffice 1.9.65 says: " Password protection is not supported when document are saved in Microsoft Office format". It could be a good think to make able to do that... Thanks...
Yes, this request is already signposted in the import password specification: http://specs.openoffice.org/appwide/interoperability/Import_Password_Protected_MS_Office_Files.sxw
I re-assign this to requirements.
This is a show-stopper for my organization. I had hoped for at least a partial migration to OOo, but the idea will never get past management without this feature. We are in healthcare and unfortunately users are used to using MS Word passwords to "secure" sensitive documents. I realize it's only an illusion of security, but it's just not something that is going to change. Therefore I need this feature in order to sell an OOo conversion. Hopefully soon!
I tried to introduce OOo2.0 (Build 8990) to my company. Unfortunately, the password protection is a big issue for our project and finance departments. We have to save password protected documents in xls and doc formats because the local government agences, audit companies and, our HQ in Japan is using Microsoft Office. Interoperatability in this area is a big let down. We won't migrate to Openfile format to enjoy the security features because our business partners are support Microsoft Office format. Hope you can understand...
Please allow password protection for MS formats. This will allow gradual rollouts of OO. Without this feature we need to migrate everybody who shares pwd-protected documents at once. This is particularily painfull if users need to send pwd-protected docs across company borders. Thanks a lot for your excellent work!
Forgot to mention that even specification recognises the need for such feature "User scenarios" in ttp://specs.openoffice.org/appwide/interoperability/Import_Password_Protected_M S_Office_Files.sxw
Daniel, short questions: is it possible to implement this? Or are there technical or legal reasons why implementing this feature is either very hard or even impossible?
implementation is possible, just would take a bit of time...
*** Issue 74555 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***
*** Issue 77666 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***
*** Issue 82365 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***
Maybe for 3.0?
Hi. This is quite similar to Issue 60305, except that one is specific to Calc. Could we dup one of them just for cleaning? BTW, the OS and version could be broadened. I saw this in Win2k w/ OOo 2.4. Cross-posting in Issue 60305 on purpose. Thanks,
Daniel, Kohei: you are the experts. Is issue 60305 a duplicate? In case you agree we should close it and keep this one - it's older and has more votes.
Issue 60305 is not a duplicate of this issue since this issue is about setting a password for the encryption of a whole document whereas Issue 60305 is about understanding a different password hash algorithm for per-sheet protection with no encryption involved. Issue 84766 addresses this issue partially for the .xls documents. But a separate work would still need to be done for the .doc file encryption.
kohei, thanks for the fast response. So everything should be clear now. Besides the question how much effort it is to implement this enhancement ...
No one new response for nearly one year :( Dear developers, what about next release? Can we expect you did't forget this issue at all?
I didn't even realize this was a problem until a user asked me create a way for him to share a document with coworkers on a shared network location that only he could modify. So I saved a document as a Word document (.doc) with a password required to modify. He uses Office 2007, but some users use OOo to open MS Office documents. I was shocked to see that OOo simply bypassed the password entirely! This is unacceptable for mixed environments.
I cannot say emphatically enough how upsetting it is to have to intermittently exit openoffice, and revert to "Word," in order that I can create a word-97 encrypted doc file that I am required to deliver!!! I gather a decision was made to allow decryption, but not encryption of word-97 files, because the encryption algorithm is weak. That misses the point that people who are compelled to use this silly format are therefore forced to revert to Word. The "save with password box" is still greyed out under FC11 pre-release / OO 3.1.0!!! Suggestions of using alternative encryption techniques completely miss the point. If I could dictate the format and encryption type, in the first place, I wouldn't be using dot doc at all! Somebody please raise the priority on this.
*** Issue 104324 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***
Unfortunately this issue mixes encryption and protection, but anyway. First about encryption support. This has been fixed in OOo 3.2 for xls (issue 84766) and doc (issue 103780). For ppt there is issue 46307 for loading files with password. I couldn't find an issue for storing ppt files with password. Protection of doc and xls files with passwords will be supported in OOo 3.3: http://www.openoffice.org/issues/buglist.cgi?issue_id=105076+109634+109779+109976+110383 Again I couldn't find anything for Powerpoint. So perhaps we should close this issue once the protection is available and create a new issue for Powerpoint. This issue already is a mess.
sorry, status should not have changed.