Expert Training

Whether you’re sending DWG or DWF files, you may be concerned about their misuse (that is, by the wrong people or for the wrong purposes), abuse (for example, modification without your consent), or reuse (on other projects or by other people without due compensation to you).

New for 2004 AutoCAD 2004 includes two new features for securing your drawings when you send them to others:

• Password protection enables you to lock a DWG or DWF file so that only those who type the password that you’ve specified can open, insert, or xref it.

  Warning Add password protection to drawings only when you really need it:

  • If you forget the password, then you no longer will be able to open the drawing. Neither AutoCAD nor Autodesk has any magical way to extract the password or unlock the drawing.

  • Others can’t insert the drawing as a block or attach it as an xref.

  Tip If you’re using a password, you probably should do it on a copy of the drawing that you send, and keep an unprotected version for yourself.

• Digital signature is a high-tech way to add an electronic marker to a DWG file that verifies that someone approved the drawing. AutoCAD 2004’s digital signature feature relies on fairly new technology by Microsoft. You must first get an account with a digital certificate provider, who serves to authenticate you and your computer. Of course, for this feature to be useful, you need to send drawings to someone who wants to receive digitally authenticated drawings from you (or vice versa) and who has the technological savvy to deal with digital certificates. For more information, see “digital signatures, learning more about” in the AutoCAD 2004 online help system.

To activate either of these options for the current drawing, choose FileðSave As to display the Save Drawing As dialog box, and then choose ToolsðSecurity Options to display the Security Options dialog box before you save the file. If you want to add a password to the current drawing, just type it in the text field on the password tab of the Security Options dialog box.

After you password protect and save a DWG file, anyone who tries to open, insert, or xref it will see a dialog box similar to the one shown in Figure 15-6.

To password protect a DWF file, use the PUBLISH command and specify the password in the Publish Drawing Sheets dialog box.

Tip Although electronic security features such as the ones described in this section can be useful as part of a strategy to protect your work from misuse, they’re not a substitute for communicating clearly, preferably in the form of written contracts, what constitutes appropriate use of drawings that you send to or receive from others. http://markcad.com/autocad/elecdwgexchange.htm outlines the issues and suggests how to play well with your drawing exchange buddies.