Read password protected excel file using Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0 and Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0

Question

Hi I am not able to upload password protected file using Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0 and Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0. I am getting Exception like : Could not decrypt file. What should I do for that?

Dorothy Tincher · Answer

Hi you can also check out this discussion for more workarounds to this issue: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1356051/read-password-protected-excel-file-using-oledb-in-c-sharp Also you can try this .NET Excel dll which can read an excel file in .NET without providing or even knowing a password. After you access/load the file you can even remove that existing password or change it.

Andrew Fenster · Answer

My first guess was that you weren't putting the password in the connection string. So I tried that and I got the same error as you. Apparently this is a known problem. This website: http://www.connectionstrings.com/excel says: If the Excel workbook is protected by a password you cannot open it for data access even by supplying the correct password with your connection string. If you try you receive the following error message: 'Could not decrypt file.' They have a link to a work around: http://www.connectionstrings.com/Articles/Show/how-to-open-password-protected-excel-workbook I haven't tried it but it looks like it would work.