Signing MS-Excel spread sheets

[Oskar L.]

Unless it is possible to configure Excel not to update the time stamp,
then the only solution I can think of is to mark the file as "read-only".

Oskar

> I hate to admit that I still use MS-Excel rather than an open source
> spread sheet tool, but workplace requirements constrain my fate...
>
> Anyway, the problem with MS-Excel that I'm finding is that if I sign
> (detached signature) an MS-Excel XLS file, then me or someone else opens
> the file and then closes it even without making any changes, the
> signature no longer verifies successfully.  A binary comparison of the
> "after" file with a "before" copy confirms that the four or five bytes
> are changed by the simple fact of opening and closing the file. I figure
> it must be some kind of time stamp Excel records.
>
> Has anyone else managed a work-around for this flaw? (Aside from the
> obvious -- "Stop using MS-Excel!" -- because that is a failure I cannot
> control...)
>
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