How to Read Password‑Protected Excel Files in Python Without Creating a New File

Introduction

A user asked how to read an Excel file that is protected with a password using pandas, but the pd.read_excel function does not accept a password argument, resulting in an error.

Solution 1: Using xlwings

# pip install pandas xlwings
import pandas as pd
import xlwings

app = xlwings.App(visible=False, add_book=False)
wb = app.books.open(file, password='12345678')
sheet = wb.sheets[0]
df = sheet['A1'].options(pd.DataFrame, index=False, expand='table').value
app.quit()

This method opens the Excel workbook with xlwings, supplies the password, and reads the data directly without creating a new file.

Solution 2: Using msoffcrypto

import msoffcrypto
import io
import pandas as pd

decrypted = io.BytesIO()
with open("encrypted.xlsx", "rb") as f:
    file = msoffcrypto.OfficeFile(f)
    file.load_key(password="Passw0rd")
    file.decrypt(decrypted)

df = pd.read_excel(decrypted)
print(df)

This approach decrypts the file in memory using the msoffcrypto library and then reads it with pandas, avoiding the creation of any intermediate files.

Both solutions solve the original problem, but the msoffcrypto method reads directly from memory, which can be more efficient and cleaner than generating a new temporary file.

Conclusion

The article demonstrates two practical ways to handle password‑protected Excel files in Python, providing ready‑to‑run code snippets and highlighting the advantages of each method.