XL5: Options to Back Up or Password Protect Add-In Don't Work

The information in this article applies to:

• Microsoft Excel for Windows, version 5.0
• Microsoft Excel for Windows, version 5.0a
• Microsoft Excel for the Macintosh, version 5.0

SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Excel version 5.0, if the active sheet is a module or macro sheet, you can make the entire workbook into an add-in (.XLA) file by choosing the Make Add-In command from the Tools menu. In the Make Add-In dialog box, when you choose the Options button, Microsoft Excel displays the Save Options dialog box. Although these options appear to control how the add-in will be saved and how it will behave when you open it, they do not affect the way the add-in file is saved or opened.

CAUSE

The Make Add-In dialog box was modeled after the Save As dialog box. When you choose the Options button in the Save As dialog box, you can successfully create passwords, specify read-only attributes, and create backup copies of your workbook files. These passwords and read-only attributes are useful for protecting workbooks from being opened or modified by users who do not know the password.

Add-in files, on the other hand, do not need to be protected by a password. These files are compiled so that once they are created they cannot be opened, not even by the original user.

In addition, the backup for an add-in is the workbook that contains the original code; this code can be recompiled if the add-in is damaged. For this reason, a backup is not created even if the option is selected in the Save Options dialog box (the one that you get when you choose the Options button in the Make Add-In dialog box).

NOTE: If you choose the Read-Only Recommended option when you save an add- in, you will receive the following message when you open that add-in:

   'ADD-IN.XLA' should be opened as read-only unless you need to save
   changes to it. Open as read-only?