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MS Office Forum / Word / Programming / June 2005Protecting a word document
I've created a word document which has been linked to its ow independent template and all connections to normal.dot have bee severed. What I want to do is this. If a user opens this document and choose not to include the macros, then the user shouldn't be able to see th contents of the document or (even better) open it at all. I tried doing some tricks with the Document_Open() procedure but to n avail. It seems that this procedure is triggered after the user ha chosen to include the macro. I tried password protecting the document and then wondered whethe there was a way to pass that password within Document_Open() but i seems the password request happens before that. So is there any way to prevent a user from viewing the contents of document at all if he chooses not to include the macros -- cunnus8 Not like we can do with Excel by hiding sheets that are unhidden when macros are enabled. I think the best you could offer is a huge autotext entry that gets used on the Document_Open would be about it... I'm anxious to see the responses, too. ******************* ~Anne Troy www.OfficeArticles.com www.MyExpertsOnline.com > I've created a word document which has been linked to its own > independent template and all connections to normal.dot have been [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > So is there any way to prevent a user from viewing the contents of a > document at all if he chooses not to include the macros? http://www.officehelp.in/index/index.php Hi Cunnus88, I agree with Anne on this one. If the macro isn't enabled, then there's no way the macro can take any action. So the macro would have to be responsible for creating the content, whether as AutoText, loading it from another, password-protected file, or creating it from scratch. > I've created a word document which has been linked to its own > independent template and all connections to normal.dot have been [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > So is there any way to prevent a user from viewing the contents of a > document at all if he chooses not to include the macros? Cindy Meister INTER-Solutions, Switzerland http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 8 2004) http://www.word.mvps.org This reply is posted in the Newsgroup; please post any follow question or reply in the newsgroup and not by e-mail :-) I've got my stupid goggles on today so I'm not quite visualising what you mean by "if a users opens this document and chooses not to include the macros", but leaving that aside it seems to me you can control whether the document opens by opening it from an external macro called from a toolbar or menu or userform or whatever. Present the user with a "do you agree" type message: if they say no, don't open, if they say yes, open. Your toolbar/menu/userform can be in the independent template you mentioned the document is linked to (for instance installing that template as an add-in). HTH > I've created a word document which has been linked to its own > independent template and all connections to normal.dot have been [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > So is there any way to prevent a user from viewing the contents of a > document at all if he chooses not to include the macros? Ah... therein lies the problem, Chuck. The 2nd document still has to be distributed (at least if you're outside a company network), and there's virtually no way to protect the second document. ******************* ~Anne Troy www.OfficeArticles.com www.MyExpertsOnline.com > I've got my stupid goggles on today so I'm not quite visualising what you > mean by "if a users opens this document and chooses not to include the [quoted text clipped - 25 lines] > > So is there any way to prevent a user from viewing the contents of a > > document at all if he chooses not to include the macros? http://www.officehelp.in/index/index.php I don't think there's any 'virtually' about it.... :) > Ah... therein lies the problem, Chuck. The 2nd document still has to be > distributed (at least if you're outside a company network), and there's [quoted text clipped - 42 lines] > http://www.officehelp.in/archive/index.php | > http://www.officehelp.in/index/index.php And if you'd distribute the document (password or even IRM protected) and a VB program that opens it with macros enabled? You'd need to disassemble the VB program to get at the password. The recipient would need to trust you blindly, though. Greetings, Klaus >I don't think there's any 'virtually' about it.... :) > [quoted text clipped - 44 lines] >> http://www.officehelp.in/archive/index.php | >> http://www.officehelp.in/index/index.php Hi Klaus, ... at this early hour, ... got a new newsreader? In Agent forte there are no automatic linebreaks anymore in your postings. Makes them very hard to read. Greetings from Bavaria, Germany Helmut Weber, MVP, WordVBA Win XP, Office 2003 "red.sys" & Chr$(64) & "t-online.de" Ok, so the problem is with distributing the *template* that the document is based on? If by "linked" the OP meant that the document itself contains macros that reference the separate template, the OP could instead move the macros to the template and call them from there. Sorry for being dim but I don't understand what the real world problem is. If the point is to distribute a document that is "linked" (based on?) a separate template to users who may not be able to or choose not to run macros from untrusted sources then it seems to me the solution would be to: 1. make sure the document contains no code and is password protected. 2. protect the code in the template so that it can't be viewed/edited 3. include a macro in the template that opens the document with a hard coded password - the password is hidden by the protection on the code 4. if the user chooses not to enable macros, they can't open the document because they don't have the password 5. if the user enables macros and opens the document, the password is removed via the code so there's no protection issue on the document anymore but the code is still protected so the password is as well That solution separates the contents of the document from the template so that even if the user opens the template with macros disabled they can't see the contents the OP wants to hide. Unless the OP password protects the document, users can still view the contents with any number of viewers. Granted, password protection is fairly easily cracked so the above workaround isn't bulletproof but hopefully it would get the job done? Then again, maybe I've still got stupid goggles on. > Ah... therein lies the problem, Chuck. The 2nd document still has to be > distributed (at least if you're outside a company network), and there's [quoted text clipped - 39 lines] > http://www.officehelp.in/archive/index.php | > http://www.officehelp.in/index/index.php Yes, sort of. You need to put the contents of the word document in a place that is only accessible to macros. You could Have your AutoOpen (or AutoNew) macro create your document. If macros don't run, there is nothing there to look at. Of course once it has been created / opened with macros open, nothing prevents it being saved and reopened.  SignatureCharles Kenyon Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide See also the MVP FAQ: http://www.mvps.org/word which is awesome! --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn from my ignorance and your wisdom. > I've created a word document which has been linked to its own > independent template and all connections to normal.dot have been [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > So is there any way to prevent a user from viewing the contents of a > document at all if he chooses not to include the macros? So, it's been solved (in a way) -- cunnus8 |
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