ℹ️ This feature is only accessible to Admins.
Security controls
Document security controls are applied to PDF, Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents within a Teams' or Sub-teams' security settings. Security controls determine what files in the Room people can view, edit, print and save.
Watermarks add an additional level of security to PDFs.
⚠️Good to know: XFA-formatted PDF files and PDF portfolios, will only be secured and watermarked on the cover page.
Secure Office
Secure Office is a feature that allows Admins the option to apply security controls on Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents. By default, Secure Office is turned on in all Rooms.
There are certain requirements that people accessing the Secure Office files need to have installed/enabled on their computer. Therefore it is recommended that:
All files that are not intended for collaboration should be converted to PDF
Any files that need to be marked up, edited or commented on to be released without Secure Office activated, as these are working files
For all other files that Admins carefully consider the benefits of the additional security compared to the practical drawbacks within the system requirements
Learn more about Secure Office system requirements here.
If Secure Office is on: tracking, print, temp save, edit and copy controls are available for Excel, Word and PowerPoint files.
If Secure Office is off: tracking, print, temp save, edit and copy controls are not available for Excel, Word and PowerPoint files.
⚠️Good to know: Once you have Secure Office activated for your Room you can choose to activate this for each Team and Sub-team within the Room. The image below shows what a Team will look like once this has been activated.
By default, Secure Office is turned on in all Rooms. Learn how to deactivate Secure Office here.
💡Tip: If Secure Office is turned off and then turned back on, Security controls must be applied across all Teams and Sub-teams again.
💾 Allow Saving
Saving also means temp save which allows Admins to control whether people can temporarily save PDFs and Microsoft Office files. Internet access is required to open temporarily saved files to ensure access to the file is permitted.
When files with Save security controls are downloaded, they ping the Rights Management Server to verify access rights.
It's called temp save because the files are only accessible temporarily, will become inaccessible when one of the following conditions are met, whichever comes first:
access to the file is denied and revoked
the Save security control is disallowed
the person is disabled from the Room
the Room is disabled
When either of those occur, the person will receive a notification indicating that the file has expired.
⚠️Good to know: Given that Microsoft Office files are typically ‘working files’ that are designed to allow for further editing and modification, this feature can have practical implications for your deal that should be considered before choosing to apply them. Learn more about Secure Office requirements here.
🖨️ Allow Printing
When Printing is turned on, people can print the documents.
✏️ Allow Editing
When Editing is turned on, people can make some changes on the downloaded PDFs, Excel, Word and PowerPoint files. All edits made and comments added to the files are not reflected in the Room.
For PDFs
The Editing function for PDFs differs for people who have Adobe Pro and Adobe Reader.
For people with Adobe Pro: They can edit PDFs that are saved to their desktop by using the Adobe Pro edit toolbar.
For people with Adobe Reader: They can add comments to PDFs that are saved to their desktop by using the Adobe Reader comment functionality.
For Excel, Word and PowerPoint files
Editing for Excel, Word and PowerPoint files gives people the option to edit content and use Microsoft Excel functions like formulas, filters and macros.
Here's a chart that outlines what guests can do with Editing turned on and off.
📑 Allow Copying
If Secure Office is turned on, Admins have the option to allow people in the Room to copy content from Excel, Word and PowerPoint files.
⚠️Good to know: When people copy content out of Excel, Word and PowerPoint files and paste it into a new document, their interactions in the new file can't be tracked.
If security controls are turned on for a PDF, copying is disallowed by default.
Add, Edit or Disable Security Controls
Once a Team or Sub-team has been created, Security settings can be applied. Learn how to create Teams and Sub-teams here.
⚠️Good to know: Security settings can be edited for a Team or Sub-team at any time during a process. Sub-teams are still part of the parent team however they can have different security settings.
Follow these steps to apply Security settings on a Team or Sub-team.
1. Go to the Left menu. Under Manage, select either Sell side or Buy side.
⚠️Good to know: The wording on the internal and external tabs for managing Teams/people under the Left menu changes based on the Room’s transaction type. Learn more here.
2. Find the Team/Sub-team that you want to edit.
3. Select the Item menu next to the Team/Sub-team. Then select Edit security.
4. Changed the desired settings under Access, Security controls and Watermarks.
Access: Control what files and folders the team has access to.
Security controls On/Off:
- Turning Security controls on allows restrictions for PDF and Microsoft Office files such as Save, Print and Edit.
- If Security is activated for Microsoft Office files, the Copy Security control can be enabled or disabled.
- If Security controls are turned off, files for this Team are unsecured.
Watermarks: Add pre existing or create new Watermarks to apply to PDFs.
⚠️Good to know: You can change the settings on folders, sub folders and individual files. If you change settings on a folder, all sub folders and files within it will inherit those settings.
5. Select Save.
