2011

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For example, if a company creates a valuable, confidential design for an engine
factory, the company can help protect the drawings with a password (or phrase)
before sending the drawings out for review by the builders. Password protection
could be one of the many measures the company could take, in addition to
measures such as a secure intranet and rules about information disclosure,
that would help keep the factory design confidential.
Passwords work only on AutoCAD 2004
®
and later drawing files (DWG, DWS,
and DWT files).
NOTE If you want to attach a password and a digital signature to a drawing file,
attach the password first. Modifications to files, including the adding of passwords,
invalidate their digital signatures.
Quick Reference
Commands
SECURITYOPTIONS
Specifies password or digital signature options for a drawing file.
Protect Drawings with Encryption
If you add a password to a drawing and save the drawing, the drawing is
encrypted and cannot be reopened until the password is entered.
Add a Password to a Drawing
A password can be a single word, or a phrase. It is recommended that you use
common characters. The more characters you use, the harder it is for an
unauthorized program, or password cracker, to determine the password.
When you add a password to a drawing, you can choose whether to encrypt
drawing properties, and you can specify an encryption type and key length.
After you add a password to a drawing and save the drawing, the password is
required before any program or part of a program can read the data in the
drawing, even if the drawing is an external reference. A specific password
generally is required to be entered once per session.
You can attach a password to a file while modifying the file or when you save
the file. You must individually add a password to each drawing you want to
encrypt.
1922 | Chapter 40 Protect and Sign Drawings