The owner of a PDF or Microsoft Office (Word, PowerPoint or Excel) document may choose to protect the document using the Syncplicity Secure Shared File feature. Once protected, only authorized users can open the document.
To view the document on your desktop, you must have the Syncplicity Plug-in for Microsoft Office and Syncplicity Plug-in for PDF. You are prompted to install the plug-in the first time you attempt to open a secure shared file. For details, see the Syncplicity Secure Shared File article.
Downloading a secure shared file
When you open the web page of the secured shared link, you may be required to enter a password, which you would have received separately from the person who created the shared link. Afterwards, the download page opens. This page contains the file name, expiration time if any, any message written by the person who protected the file, and your permission. In the example below, the file expires in 3 days, and you have the permission to edit the file.
You can download the document whether or not you have the plug-in installed on your system. However, you need the plug-in to open the document. If you do not have the plug-in installed, you can click the link to download it. If you do not install the plug-in at this time, you are prompted again when you attempt to open the document.
Opening a secure shared file
When you attempt to open a secure shared file, you may encounter one of these situations:
- You do not have the Syncplicity Plug-in for Microsoft Office and Syncplicity Plug-in for PDF installed on your system.
You are prompted to install the plug-in. - You are not authorized to view the document.
You are presented with a message and an option to contact the owner. If you believe that you should be authorized, use the contact owner option to provide information on why you require access. - You are authorized to view the document.
The document opens.
If you are authorized to open the document but all you see is a “protected content” label displayed, you may have a teleconferencing tool or screen capturing tool open. Make sure to close all teleconferencing and screen capturing tools before opening a protected document.
Using the Syncplicity menu
When you open a secure shared file, you can use the Syncplicity ribbon (Microsoft Office document), shown below, or Syncplicity menu (PDF document) to view your permissions, contact the owner, and disable screen capture.
Select View Permissions to view the role and permissions, such as edit, print, and copy, assigned to you for this document. In addition, the document may also have these other permissions:
- File Expiration: A protected document can be set to expire, after which the document is no longer accessible. This field displays when, if at all, the document is due to expire.
- Watermark: A protected document can be assigned a watermark. For protected Microsoft Office documents, the watermark displays only when the document is printed. Protected PDF documents display the watermark on your monitor as well as on the printed copy. This field displays the name of the watermark. If blank, there is no watermark.
- Screen Capture: If the setting is Allowed, the Screen Capture menu option is enabled which allows you to turn off the screen capturing function as described below.
- Offline Access: In this case, offline means the Syncplicity client cannot connect to the Syncplicity shared folder. A secure shared file can be allowed or disallowed from being viewed while offline. Furthermore, the secure shared file may be allowed to be viewed for a limited time while offline. This field displays the total number of days that you can access the document while offline. If you see Disabled or Expired, the document cannot be viewed while offline.
- Location Access: This permission can restrict access depending on the country where you are located. If you see a list of countries and Allowed, you can open the document only when in these countries. If Disallowed, you can open the document only when not in one of the countries listed.
Click Contact Owner if you feel that you do not have the correct permissions for the protected document then enter the information required by the popup window. When completed, the request is sent to the document owner. Make sure you give an explanation for requesting additional permissions.
By default, protected content is not allowed to be captured by screen capturing tools or viewed by users when employing a teleconferencing tool, such as WebEx or MS Communicator. Should you wish to use these tools and if you have the permission, select Screen Capture then Allow. When done, select Screen Capture then Disallow to return to the more secure state. When you close the secure shared file, the setting automatically returns to Disallow. If you have multiple secure shared files, you can only have one secure shared file open when using Screen Capture > Allow. The other secure shared files must be closed.