Hash Totals

[bretsharon]

Can I get a hash total on a document? A Hash total would assign a unique
number value to each character and then gives you the total of all those
numbers. If anything changes, anything, then there is a different hash
total. Thus the number of characters and spaces and words etc., might be the
same, but a hash total would be different, thus nailing any changes down.

I guess you could go thru and replace, but surely there is someone out here
that assigns a value for each character and space and then totals.

I am not confident in Word. I believe things are changed from opening to
opening and I am trying to guard the document to be absolutely certain that
the document is exactly the same....exactly

 

[macropod]

Hi bretsharon,

Hash totals are only a weak form of protection - it's quite easy to modify a document in such a way as to keep the same has total.
For eample:
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
and:
The dray jump quiz governs the fox lock bow.
would generate the same hash total.

If you need to ensure someone doesn't change a document you've given them, supply it as a protected PDF.

 

[Graham Mayor]

Even PDF protection can be worked around. Ultimately if you allow someone to
see a document then that document can be copied and the copy edited to
replace the original. There is not now and never will be a way around that -
people have been copying documents since writing became a form of
communication. The best protection for documents is to release only paper
copies marked with a pre-printed text watermark that repeats over the whole
background, making it difficult to use OCR software, and to sign the
document with a pen, which is more difficult to forge. That will not stop a
determined forger, but it might make it not worth his while.

--
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Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com

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Hi bretsharon,

Hash totals are only a weak form of protection - it's quite easy to modify
a document in such a way as to keep the same has total. For eample:
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
and:
The dray jump quiz governs the fox lock bow.
would generate the same hash total.

If you need to ensure someone doesn't change a document you've given them,
supply it as a protected PDF.

--
Cheers
macropod
[Microsoft MVP - Word]

Can I get a hash total on a document? A Hash total would assign a unique
number value to each character and then gives you the total of all those
numbers. If anything changes, anything, then there is a different hash
total. Thus the number of characters and spaces and words etc., might be
the
same, but a hash total would be different, thus nailing any changes down.

I guess you could go thru and replace, but surely there is someone out
here
that assigns a value for each character and space and then totals.

I am not confident in Word. I believe things are changed from opening to
opening and I am trying to guard the document to be absolutely certain
that
the document is exactly the same....exactly