Protecting the format of slides

  • Thread starter Thread starter LaurenM
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LaurenM

Hi all,

I have looked at several posts about protecting PowerPoint slides in
versions 2003 and earlier. Except for using third party software or password
protecting a document to prevent modifying, there are a lot of hoops someone
needs to jump through to protect a PowerPoint file. What if I would like
someone to have some modify access? Example, someone can move slides around
but not delete them or unhide them in a PowerPoint show? Is this where we
would need to use the Information Rights Management feature and is this only
available using SharePoint services (which we don't have)? Does PPT 2007
offer any way of establishing permissions from within Powerpoint itself? If
anyone can share their useful insights on this , I would appreciate it.

Thank you!
LaurenM
 
I don't think that using IRM will give you those rights, Lauren. With PPT,
it's pretty much an all-or-nothing kind of thing: either you can edit or you
can't.

By the way, I can't recall how it works with 2003, but in PPT 2007, you can
restrict permission without Sharepoint. You use your Passport/Windows Live
ID for it. Basically, you go to Office Button | Prepare | Restrict
Permission, and then you get information on IRM and how it uses a server to
authenticate users' credentials. It says, "Some organizations use their own
rights management servers. For MS Office users without access to one of
these servers, MS provides a free trial IRM service."

It seems to work whenever I've tried it, but I don't know what happens once
MS decides not to make it a free trial service any longer. It says
recipients will have access to the documents for at least 3 months, but I
know nothing other than that.

I do think, though, that you must be using a volume license version
(Professional Plus or Enterprise) of PPT 2007 in order to have this feature,
though. Office Ultimate also has the feature, and it's available retail --
so you don't have to have a volume license account for it.

Oh, wait. Checking PPT 2003...it shows the same dialog as 2007, so I guess
it's the same.

I wonder if you've maybe mixed up Information Rights Management servers and
Sharepoint servers...unless maybe Sharepoint services has IRM built in
somehow, which is entirely possible for all I know! :-)
 
Hello Echo S!

Thank you so much for your very thorough reply. I am a novice when it comes
to IRM and Sharepoint so I may have mixed up the two. We may try the free IRM
service but I am not sure if the users we need to limit would always have
access to the Internet. I am assuming that would probably be necessary, no?

Anyway, thank you so much. It seems like protection is an issue for many
people so maybe Microsoft has it in its plans for future versions to write
this into the application.

All the best,
LaurenM

Echo S said:
I don't think that using IRM will give you those rights, Lauren. With PPT,
it's pretty much an all-or-nothing kind of thing: either you can edit or you
can't.

By the way, I can't recall how it works with 2003, but in PPT 2007, you can
restrict permission without Sharepoint. You use your Passport/Windows Live
ID for it. Basically, you go to Office Button | Prepare | Restrict
Permission, and then you get information on IRM and how it uses a server to
authenticate users' credentials. It says, "Some organizations use their own
rights management servers. For MS Office users without access to one of
these servers, MS provides a free trial IRM service."

It seems to work whenever I've tried it, but I don't know what happens once
MS decides not to make it a free trial service any longer. It says
recipients will have access to the documents for at least 3 months, but I
know nothing other than that.

I do think, though, that you must be using a volume license version
(Professional Plus or Enterprise) of PPT 2007 in order to have this feature,
though. Office Ultimate also has the feature, and it's available retail --
so you don't have to have a volume license account for it.

Oh, wait. Checking PPT 2003...it shows the same dialog as 2007, so I guess
it's the same.

I wonder if you've maybe mixed up Information Rights Management servers and
Sharepoint servers...unless maybe Sharepoint services has IRM built in
somehow, which is entirely possible for all I know! :-)

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
What's new in PPT 2007? http://www.echosvoice.com/2007.htm
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances http://tinyurl.com/36grcd
PowerPoint 2007 Complete Makeover Kit http://tinyurl.com/32a7nx


LaurenM said:
Hi all,

I have looked at several posts about protecting PowerPoint slides in
versions 2003 and earlier. Except for using third party software or
password
protecting a document to prevent modifying, there are a lot of hoops
someone
needs to jump through to protect a PowerPoint file. What if I would like
someone to have some modify access? Example, someone can move slides
around
but not delete them or unhide them in a PowerPoint show? Is this where we
would need to use the Information Rights Management feature and is this
only
available using SharePoint services (which we don't have)? Does PPT 2007
offer any way of establishing permissions from within Powerpoint itself?
If
anyone can share their useful insights on this , I would appreciate it.

Thank you!
LaurenM
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
You're welcome, Lauren. I wish I could give you more definitive information,
but I'm just not as familiar with IRM as I probably should be.

I am not sure if the recipient needs to have internet access or not. When I
get an IRM certificate and then set permissions for someone on a
presentation, under the "more options," there's an option to "require a
connection to verify a user's permission." It's greyed out, though, and I
can't figure out how to make it available. So maybe your recipients do not
need to have internet access.

I *think* your recipients would have to sign up for credentials (the free
IRM certificate things) on their machines, and I think they'd need to use
the email address you specified when giving them permissions for your
document. Once they sign up / sign in using that email address, they should
be able to open/view the presentations as specified by the permissions
granted. Since a certificate is downloaded to the computer, they may not
need a connection at the time they open the file.

Obviously, you'll want to test this pretty thoroughly before implementing
it! :-) It just takes a second to sign up for an IRM cert, so you can see
the kinds options you have available, anyway. (For example, you can restrict
printing, which could be useful.)

And you know, when you start messing with IRM, you do see the same taskpane
as when you're using Sharepoint -- but I don't think it's the same kind of
server exactly. I just don't know, though.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
What's new in PPT 2007? http://www.echosvoice.com/2007.htm
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances http://tinyurl.com/36grcd
PowerPoint 2007 Complete Makeover Kit http://tinyurl.com/32a7nx


LaurenM said:
Hello Echo S!

Thank you so much for your very thorough reply. I am a novice when it
comes
to IRM and Sharepoint so I may have mixed up the two. We may try the free
IRM
service but I am not sure if the users we need to limit would always have
access to the Internet. I am assuming that would probably be necessary,
no?

Anyway, thank you so much. It seems like protection is an issue for many
people so maybe Microsoft has it in its plans for future versions to write
this into the application.

All the best,
LaurenM

Echo S said:
I don't think that using IRM will give you those rights, Lauren. With
PPT,
it's pretty much an all-or-nothing kind of thing: either you can edit or
you
can't.

By the way, I can't recall how it works with 2003, but in PPT 2007, you
can
restrict permission without Sharepoint. You use your Passport/Windows
Live
ID for it. Basically, you go to Office Button | Prepare | Restrict
Permission, and then you get information on IRM and how it uses a server
to
authenticate users' credentials. It says, "Some organizations use their
own
rights management servers. For MS Office users without access to one of
these servers, MS provides a free trial IRM service."

It seems to work whenever I've tried it, but I don't know what happens
once
MS decides not to make it a free trial service any longer. It says
recipients will have access to the documents for at least 3 months, but I
know nothing other than that.

I do think, though, that you must be using a volume license version
(Professional Plus or Enterprise) of PPT 2007 in order to have this
feature,
though. Office Ultimate also has the feature, and it's available
retail --
so you don't have to have a volume license account for it.

Oh, wait. Checking PPT 2003...it shows the same dialog as 2007, so I
guess
it's the same.

I wonder if you've maybe mixed up Information Rights Management servers
and
Sharepoint servers...unless maybe Sharepoint services has IRM built in
somehow, which is entirely possible for all I know! :-)

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
What's new in PPT 2007? http://www.echosvoice.com/2007.htm
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances http://tinyurl.com/36grcd
PowerPoint 2007 Complete Makeover Kit http://tinyurl.com/32a7nx


LaurenM said:
Hi all,

I have looked at several posts about protecting PowerPoint slides in
versions 2003 and earlier. Except for using third party software or
password
protecting a document to prevent modifying, there are a lot of hoops
someone
needs to jump through to protect a PowerPoint file. What if I would
like
someone to have some modify access? Example, someone can move slides
around
but not delete them or unhide them in a PowerPoint show? Is this where
we
would need to use the Information Rights Management feature and is this
only
available using SharePoint services (which we don't have)? Does PPT
2007
offer any way of establishing permissions from within Powerpoint
itself?
If
anyone can share their useful insights on this , I would appreciate it.

Thank you!
LaurenM
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