I have workbooks with both individual sheets and the entire workbook protected. I have a third party tool that is reading the xlsx file and going to put the data in a database.

It seems that when I protect the workbook and put in a password, Excel is also encrypting the file, not just protecting it by making you enter a password. I think this is the case because if I hit protect and leave the password blank, my tool can read the file. If I protect and give it a password, my tool says it can't read it because it's encrypted.

Is there a way to protect the workbook WITHOUT also encrypting?