2004

Drawing Encryption | 777
Choose the Type of Encryption
You can choose an advanced encryption level to protect your drawing.
A default encryption level, supplied by your operating system, is used unless
you choose an advanced level. If you decide to choose an advanced level, you
can choose from RC4 encryption providers supplied by your operating sys-
tem. You also can choose a key length (the higher the length, the higher the
protection). An RC4 encryption provider is a standard form of encryption,
and the RC4 encryption providers vary in the type of protection they
provide.
Before using an advanced encryption level (provider, type, and key length),
confirm that any computer that needs to decrypt the drawing has the cryp-
tography service provider you plan to use. For more information on cryptog-
raphy providers, encryption types, and encryption key lengths, search the
Internet for these terms.
To choose the encryption provider and key length for a drawing
1 On the Tools menu, click Options.
2 In the Options dialog box, on the Open and Save tab, click Security
Options.
3 In the Security Options dialog box, on the Password tab, enter a password
or phrase to open the drawing, and then click Advanced Options.
4 In the Advanced Options dialog box, choose an encryption provider, key
length, or both, and click OK.
5 In the Security Options dialog box, click OK.
Command line
SECURITYOPTIONS
View Password-Protected Drawings
To view the data in a password-protected drawing, you must first obtain and
enter the password. After you enter the password, it stays with the drawing,
even if you modify and save the drawing, unless you remove the password.
A password-protected drawing may contain external references (xrefs) to
password-protected drawings. If you open a password-protected drawing that
contains xrefs, you are prompted to enter the password for the current draw-
ing. Then you are prompted to enter the passwords of any xrefs whose
passwords are different from a password you have entered in the current
session. A specific password that applies to a drawing or xref generally is
required to be entered once per session.