MSWord Document/File Security

[Dr. Nick De Bonis]

As someone who started working with computers in the
1960s -- when I was 8 *WG* -- and with MSWord since it was
launched, I was chagrined to learn the yesterday that I'm
either very naive or not as computer literate as I
thought.

I had sent a document to a client with Security options so
that the client couldn't (1) modify the contents of the
file and (2) easily appropriate the intellectual property
in a file. Under FILE SHARING OPTIONS I had required a
password and checked the READ-ONLY RECOMMENDED box, and
blithely emailed the file to the client. It became
apparent a day later that the client had opened the file
and made changes. Talking about how the client was able
to do this with my wife, my 16-year-old son looked at me
like I was from another planet and informed me that all
the client had to do was save the file under a different
name and all of the security options were negated. When I
expressed my disbelief, he demonstrated that he was right
and showed me how to click on the HELP question mark, put
the pointer on the READ-ONLY RECOMMENDED command and the
help box tells you how to circumvent the password. "Duh,
Dad."

So, my question is, what's the solution for being able to
send a locked, read-only MSWord file to someone so that
they can't make changes to the original, that only the
author can do so?? Or is this a high-level encryption
game that isn't worth the effort?

 

[Graham Mayor]

If you can view the document, you can copy it. It's as simple as that.
You can, however, make things difficult and the best plan is to save as a
PDF file, with security options set, for which you will need extra software.
You can restrict the user to viewing on screen, but even then there is
nothing to stop the user taking screen shots and then using OCR to resurrect
an editable copy of the original.


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Graham Mayor - Word MVP
E-mail (e-mail address removed)
Web site www.gmayor.dsl.pipex.com
Word MVP web site www.mvps.org/word
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