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ver 1.5.0 Latest
November 1, 2026- Check without Office: FPC now reads the file contents directly to determine whether a file has a password (old and new Excel, Word and PowerPoint formats, PDF, ZIP). Office is not required for checking. Only files that cannot be read directly are checked with Office. You can still choose the traditional method of opening files with Office in "Settings" → "Detection method". Because it no longer relies on Office messages, checking now works regardless of the Office language.
How passwords are checked (without Office)
Before (1.4.2)FPC→Start Excel, Word, PowerPoint→Open files one by one→Decide by whether it opensOffice required, slow1.5.0FPC→Read file contents directly→Decide (in parallel)No Office, any languageOnly files that cannot be read directly (such as damaged files) are checked with Office. You can also choose the previous method in "Settings" → "Detection method".
- PDF support: FPC can now check whether a PDF has an open password and set one (AES-256). PDFs with only editing or printing restrictions are shown as "No password", with a note that only restrictions are set. Passwords cannot be set on PDFs with editing or printing restrictions or digital signatures.
PDF support (check results)
No password! No passwordOpen password set✓ Has passwordEditing/printing restrictions only! None (restrictions only)Certificate-protected✓ Has passwordPDFs without passwords can be protected with AES-256 (PDFs with editing or printing restrictions and digitally signed PDFs are not changed).
PDF support. PDFs with only editing or printing restrictions are identified too - Set passwords without Office: Newer formats (xlsx, xlsm, xlsb, docx, docm, pptx, ppsx) are now protected without Office, using AES-256 encryption, the same as Office. Older formats (xls, doc, ppt, pps) are still protected with Office.
How passwords are set (without Office)
Before (1.4.2)FPC→Open and save in OfficeOffice required for all formats1.5.0Newer formats such as xlsx, docx, pptx→FPC encrypts directly with AES-256No Office (same method as Office)1.5.0PDF→FPC encrypts directly with AES-256No Office1.5.0Older formats: xls, doc, ppt→Open and save in OfficeSame as beforeAfter setting the password, FPC confirms that the file opens with it before replacing the original. Files with a write password and files that already have a password are not changed.
Set a password by double-clicking or right-clicking. The input field shows an example - Faster: Multiple files are checked in parallel. On screen, opening a folder lists its files immediately and checks them in the background. The window stays responsive while checking, and the status bar shows progress and "Cancel". Checking 3,016 files (batch mode) went from 192 seconds in 1.4.2 to 0.2 seconds (chart below).
3,016 files (batch)52 files (batch)Before (1.4.2: open with Office to check) 1.5.0 (read directly, in parallel) * Measured on our PC (folder with Excel, Word, PowerPoint, PDF and ZIP files)
- Clearer results: File icons now carry marks for has a password (green ✓), no password (orange !), error (red ×) and more. The status bar shows counts for each folder. Files and folders that cannot be accessed are shown with a lock mark instead of a dialog.
Password marks on icons (green ✓ has a password / orange ! no password, in red). Counts in the status bar (shown separately for the folder and its subfolders when subfolders are checked) - Check subfolders too: Turn on "Settings" → "Check subfolders" to check lower levels in the background when you open a folder, and show the counts.
- Improved logging: By default, passwords you set are no longer recorded in the log. Added a setting to mask file names and other names, and a record of passwords being set (FPCChangeLog.txt).
- Modernized interface: Clearer fonts and flat buttons, with support for high-DPI displays (125% and 150% scaling). Added "Set password..." on the right-click menu, and "Add share" and "Detection method" in the menus.
- Set passwords from the right-click menu: You can now right-click a file to set a password (same as double-clicking).
- Five distribution files: The libraries used are now included in FPC.exe, reducing the distributed files to five: FPC.exe, FPCCmd.exe, ja\FPC.resources.dll, FPC.xml and ReadMe_ja.txt.
- Check without Office: FPC now reads the file contents directly to determine whether a file has a password (old and new Excel, Word and PowerPoint formats, PDF, ZIP). Office is not required for checking. Only files that cannot be read directly are checked with Office. You can still choose the traditional method of opening files with Office in "Settings" → "Detection method". Because it no longer relies on Office messages, checking now works regardless of the Office language.
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ver 1.4.2
November 13, 2025- Changed how Word is started: Because Word sometimes failed to start in some environments, Word is now started the same way as Excel and PowerPoint.
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ver 1.4.1
November 9, 2025- File read interval setting: Because some NAS devices block reads made at short intervals, you can now specify a wait time before reading the next file (BatchIntervalTime) in the configuration file (FPC.xml).
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ver 1.4.0
November 4, 2025- Added support for .NET Framework 4.8.1.
- The executables are now code-signed.
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ver 1.3.x and earlier
2015–2021- 1.3.0 (2021.08) .NET Framework 4.6 support, code signing
- 1.1.0 (2017.03) Confirmed operation with 64-bit Office 2016
- 1.0.1 (2015.12) Fixed to work while Excel or Word is running; remembers the last password entered
- 1.0.0 (2015.11) Released
Next version: password protection for ZIP (AES), parallel password setting in batch mode, exit codes, excluded folders and more are planned.See the roadmap
For the full history, see ReadMe_ja.txt (in Japanese) included with the product.Download the latest version