The XL Guard
Share and protect your Microsoft® Excel® files from prying eyes.
Import your existing unprotected Excel® files to XL Guard.
Share your files safely with your accountant and other professionals outside your office.
With ease, control who on your team, at work, school, or at home, has access to specific worksheets in your workbooks.
Secure your workbooks, worksheets, formulas, and data with XL Guard. XL Guard by XLforms provides a personalized and secure user experience. Using our proprietary User Access List (UAL) and Sheet Level Access Control (SLAC), you can restrict and grant access to individual users for every worksheet in your workbooks to ensure that only those with authorization can interact with them.
Whether you are importing worksheets from your existing workbooks for added security, or starting a new workbook altogether, the XL Guard is simple and convenient to use. With a wide array of uses in the home and office, our program lets you feel more confident in the security of your data by preventing unauthorized people and users from opening your workbook or viewing sensitive worksheets within your workbook.
FREE
No tracking, No virus
No registration required
Final desktop version
No more updates!
Download coming soon!
Work in your comfort zone: our products run on Microsoft® Windows® operating system with Microsoft® Excel®.
Compatible with Microsoft Excel 2007-2019 & Office 365 Desktop Editions, 32 and 64 bit versions
Standard Edition
XL Guard Standard Edition workbooks include XLforms’s proprietary User Access List (UAL).
As the administrator of the workbook, you may share access with up to 20 individual users and create or import up to 100 worksheets to your protected workbook. You can create unique usernames and passwords which can then be managed by the users themselves.
With ease, control who on your team (at home, school, or the office) has access to vital information. Choose from our standard or workgroup edition options!
In addition, you can keep every user accountable, with the administrator’s Activity Log, tracking changes made to your workbook by user and time.
Workgroup Edition
The XL Guard Workgroup Edition offers all of the same features as in the Standard Edition, plus our Sheet Level Access Control (SLAC), allowing the administrator to easily delegate responsibilities. As the administrator, you can set custom user access for each individual worksheet in your workbook (up to 100 sheets).
In addition to being able to assign access to individual worksheets, the administrator has control over two other special management groups:
Worksheet Management Group (WMG): Worksheet managers are able to add or remove worksheets, and grant or revoke worksheet viewing rights for other users.
User Management Group (UMG): User managers are able to add, remove or reset user logins and passwords as needed.
Screenshots
FAQ
There is a possibility that when you first try to install the program, you will get a pop-up that reads “Windows protected your PC” and see a button that says “Don’t run”. This is something precautionary that Microsoft Defender does when it is unfamiliar with a program. Click the “More info” on the pop-up and check if you are familiar with the App name, and that the Publisher name is XLFORMS LLC. If you see our information, continue with the installation as you normally would by clicking on the newly added button that says “Run Anyway”.
All newly created XL Guard workbook will have a default login as follows:
Username: admin
Password: password
Once you have entered the workbook as the administrator, you will be able to change to a unique login.
XL Guard is an Excel application designed to protect your workbooks with multiple unique users. With our proprietary User Access List (UAL) you can set access for up to 20 individual users to a single workbook. Furthermore, with XL Guard for Workgroup, you can also delegate access to individual worksheets using our proprietary Sheet Level Access Control (SLAC) in the shared workbook. Designed with the small business in mind, the application makes it simple to share workbooks within a workgroup (work, family, school), while ensuring that sensitive information isn’t shared where it shouldn’t be.
UAL is our proprietary code that allows the administrator (typically, the owner of the workbook) to add and allow for up to 20 users to share the same workbook using unique login credential.
SLAC is our proprietary code that allows the administrator to set and control which user(s) from the UAL can view which sheet(s) in each workbook.
You will need a computer running Microsoft Windows 7, 8, or 10. You will need Microsoft Excel Desktop Edition 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019 or 365 installed (please note that Excel web versions are not supported). Note: We strongly recommend that you update Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office before installing any XLforms applications.
Xlforms applications only support English (United States) at this time.
No. Our applications design to run exclusively on Windows OS
The XL Guard is designed to run on Microsoft Windows 7, 8 and 10. It may run on a virtual machine, but we do not support or guarantee it.
No, the XL Guard requires Microsoft Excel to be preinstalled in order to function.
If a user doesn’t have an active license on their device, but he/she have proper login credentials, he/she will still be able to use the workbook with limitations as set by the workbook administrator. Please note, they will not be able to use any of the application’s special features like adding/removing users or sheets.
Yes, but you must first deactivate the license on the current device by using the Log Out option in the application license manager before uninstalling the application from your device. If you uninstall the application before deactivating the license, the license will be lost and you will not be able to recover it.
This issue occurs because of a faulty Microsoft Authenticode file checker. To correct this issue, you need to install Microsoft Hotfix Easy Fix 51044.msi. Microsoft ended its support for windows 7 in January 14, 2020, and it is possible that the recommended hotfix is no longer available for download. Rest assured, our applications are signed with dual security certificates that support older Microsoft Windows Operating Systems as well as the newest Windows 10. If you cannot find the recommended hotfix, you can ignore the message and proceed with the installation of the application as you normally do. (For more information, check our application 3rd Party Folder).
