Password protection breaks in minutes
Microsoft Excel's built-in VBA project password uses weak encryption. Free tools online unlock it on any modern PC.
Flagship feature
Compile VBA to secure bytecode.
No editor access. No copy-paste. No comeback.
Password protection on Excel VBA projects can be removed with free tools. XLS Padlock takes a different path: the VBA Compiler turns the macros you select into secure bytecode at compile time and strips the source. There is no editor to open, no project to crack, no plaintext to copy.
Free tools reopen a password-locked VBA project.
Excel ships VBA project passwords and obfuscation patterns. None of them survive a determined reader for more than a few minutes. If your business depends on the secrecy of your macros, you need bytecode, not a password.
Obfuscation only delays a determined reader
Renaming variables and stripping comments slows things down for casual readers, but anyone with VBE access can still follow the logic and copy it.
VBE access copies your IP one click at a time
If your end user can open the VBA editor, they can select, copy, and reuse your code in any other workbook of their own.
Tampered macros wreck your reputation
End users that modify your VBA macros and redistribute the file create support tickets pointing back to you, with code you never wrote.
Three steps from plain VBA to compiled bytecode.
- 01
Write your VBA normally
Develop your macros, functions, and UDFs in Excel as you always have. No special syntax, no preprocessor.
- 02
Replace sensitive blocks with a single call
Move the code you want to protect into the XLS Padlock VBA editor. In your workbook, replace the body of the original procedure with one call: CallXLSPadlockVBA("name", "").
- 03
Compile and distribute the EXE
XLS Padlock compiles the protected code to bytecode, embeds it in the EXE, and removes the source. At runtime, the call dispatches to the compiled bytecode.
Before: plaintext VBA
Source visibleSub calculate()
Range("A4") = "Tom"
Range("B4") = 5000
Range("C4") = Range("B4") * 0.5
Range("D4") = Range("C4") + Range("B4")
End SubAfter: compiled call
Source removedSub calculate()
res = CallXLSPadlockVBA("calculate", "")
End Sub
' Compiled module (native bytecode, embedded in EXE)
' Source: removed at compile timeMost of your VBA, including the parts that matter.
Subs and Functions
User-defined formulas (UDFs)
Excel object access (Range, Application, Workbook)
Pass arrays (as Variant) and Excel objects as parameters
Return arrays or variants
Loops, conditionals, Try...Except error handling
Call between compiled procedures
Form (UserForm) code-behind cannot be compiled
Worksheet event handlers stay as plain VBA
Excel event handlers and UserForm code-behind stay in your regular VBA project; you move the sensitive procedures into the compiler. The compiler handles portions of your macros rather than entire ones, and you may need minor adjustments, for example prefixing Excel objects with the Application object.
What customers ship with the VBA Compiler.
Proprietary financial models
DCF, option pricing, risk metrics. Your formulas stay yours; your customers run them but cannot rebuild them in their own workbook.
Custom Excel functions sold as software
Bundle a library of UDFs (FFT, regression, industry math) into a compiled add-in. The function signatures are visible; the implementation is not.
Compliance and audit logic
Encode the audit rules once, compile them, ship the same trusted EXE to every team. Auditors run it; nobody alters the rules in production.
Industry-specific workbooks
CRM, project management, accounting, scientific calculators. Sell the workbook on WooCommerce or FastSpring; protect every line of logic.
The VBA Compiler ships with every XLS Padlock license.
One license unlocks the VBA Compiler, the Excel compiler, hardware-locked activation, the WooCommerce kit, and royalty-free distribution. XLS Padlock ships as a single edition, and the license covers an unlimited number of end users.