Read Only Files

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Paul W Smith

How do I send a file which is Read Only and have it still be Read Only when
it is received by the recipient?

I attached a file, which I know is Read Only, but when I open it from the
Email it is no longer Read Only.

I am using Outlook 2003.
 
Paul W Smith said:
How do I send a file which is Read Only and have it still be Read Only
when it is received by the recipient?

I attached a file, which I know is Read Only, but when I open it from the
Email it is no longer Read Only.

I am using Outlook 2003.
Click to expand...


Exchange Server? What version? Recipient also on Exchange? Also, what
type of file?
 
I am trying to send an Excel file which needs to be used as Read Only.

I have it in a folder on my hard disc. I have checked it's attributes and
it is Read Only. When I open it with Excel it is Read Only.

When I Email the file to myself, when I open it from the Email it is not
Read Only. There is VBA code in the open event that only runds when
ThisWorkbook.ReadOnly = true. Obviously this code does not run after it has
been Emailed.
 
Paul W Smith said:
I am trying to send an Excel file which needs to be used as Read Only.

I have it in a folder on my hard disc. I have checked it's attributes and
it is Read Only. When I open it with Excel it is Read Only.

When I Email the file to myself, when I open it from the Email it is not
Read Only. There is VBA code in the open event that only runds when
ThisWorkbook.ReadOnly = true. Obviously this code does not run after it
has been Emailed.
Click to expand...

Going back to my question: Is this all within an Exchange environment?
There are DRM options if it is, but if you're not in an Exchange
environment, I don't want to confuse with details that won't be useful.
 
I am not using any exchange enviroment, just Outlook 2003, XP professional
and a ISP account.
 
With respect you are offering an alternative that is not suitable for my
purposes rather than a solution to what I asked.

Protecting a WB or WKS has to be carefully considered to ensure all
functionality still works, I do not wish to go down this route, all I want
to be able to do is send a Read Only file and have it still be Read Only
when it arrives.
 
Paul W Smith said:
I am not using any exchange enviroment, just Outlook 2003, XP professional
and a ISP account.
Click to expand...

Then I'm afraid you're really out of luck, especially if you don't want to
be troubled to do what Diane suggested which is the only method I could
think to guarantee that the file is read-only. And even then, I wouldn't
trust any of the Office apps to use a uncrackable password scheme. Another
option would be to try Microsoft's public DRM server. But that code
probably wouldn't work if it was DRM'd read only.

But, as for simply setting a file's attribute to Read-Only, well.... Once
the file is on the end-users machine, they are able to do whatever they want
to it (unless DRM prevents it), even if for some reason the File System
attribute of read-only was maintained as the file moved across the internet,
there is no way you can prevent them from removing that attribute. Even DRM
won't keep that attribute. It will simply make the file read-only in Excel,
not in the OS. Heck, consider the fact that you have no way of knowing that
they are even going to be using Outlook. So, whatever you need to do, you
need to do it *in the file* not in Outlook or the File System.

The only other possibility would be a third party DRM system, which, again,
wouldn't work with that code.

Basically, unless you can control the file share access permissions, your
code isn't going to work. Even then, I don't think NT has implemented a
No-Copy permission, so if a user were to copy the file off a share, your
code could still break. My suggestion, hit up an excel newsgroup and try to
find the best way to rewrite the code and make it work. This is *not* an
Outlook issue. Don't believe me? Fire up hotmail, gmail, yahoomail and
send the file to someone. See if it maintains Read-Only. Not to mention,
see if the user can't just remove that attribute anyways.
 
Paul W Smith said:
With respect you are offering an alternative that is not suitable for my
purposes rather than a solution to what I asked.

Protecting a WB or WKS has to be carefully considered to ensure all
functionality still works, I do not wish to go down this route, all I want
to be able to do is send a Read Only file and have it still be Read Only
when it arrives.
Click to expand...

Then you're out of luck. There is NO way of doing this AFAIK. Once that file
leaves your machine, there is no way that you can stop the recipient doing
what they like with it...
 
why does the code have to only run when its read only? also, it's quite
possible the code won't run at all because of security settings on the
recipients system.

FWIW - if the sender opens the WB from the outlook preview pane (as many do)
it will be read only.
 
I have not issue with the recipient being able to change the property, but I
would like it to arrive as Read Only... is this possible.
 
Paul W Smith said:
I have not issue with the recipient being able to change the
property, but I would like it to arrive as Read Only... is this
possible.
Click to expand...

No. File attributes like that are not part of the mail interchange
protocols.
 
Brian Tillman said:
No. File attributes like that are not part of the mail interchange
protocols.
Click to expand...

Oooo, Brian, I think you just gave me an ephiphany and the solution.

Exactly. The attributes on the file you email get lost.

So... don't email the file. Email a zip *containing* the file. Windows
Explorer maintains the read-only attribute, and I can only assume that other
zip decompressors will too.

Now, on the other hand, I still think the code should be re-tooled to not
require such an odd requirement, but, hey, whatever.
 
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