Is it possible to save *.dwg file as read only?

[camncad]

Greetings:

I am wondering if it is possible to save a *.DWG file as read-only, so it makes harder to alter the contents of the drawing. Something like Acrobat security options allowing people printing, marking it up but not able to modify it in anyway without a pwd.

Thanks for your time and help.

[CADKitty]

The only thing I can think of is saving it as a .dwf file...that way, they can view it with the free DWF reader, but can't harm/altar it. As far as redlining, I believe the DWF Composer (not free) let's you do that. Other than that, all I can think of is converting it to a pdf file...

What are you looking for your end result to be with these files? Readable but not usable, viewable but not usable, etc.?

[Mike.Perry]

Hi

Have a browse of the following threads -

File Locking (http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=6658)

Password (http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=5982)

Adding a disclaimer to a drawing. (http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=8162)

+

Jennifer's suggestion of DWF is well worth a look (DWF can be reversed engineered to achieve a DWG file, granted it won't be perfect, but....), have a search within the Forums for information on DWF (there is a lot of useful stuff) -

Search Forums (http://forums.augi.com/search.php?)

Have a good one, Mike

[bbapties]

I know this is the long way around but you can always just go to your file in windows explorer and right click "properties" and change it to read only.....obviously it could be easily turned back but its a deterrent from anyone pulling a oops I saved that file after messing with it unless they were supposed to.

[camncad]

Thank you all for your advice and help.

The customer required a *.dwg format, so I can't not give him/her a pdf format.

jleamy: Either "Readable or Viewable but not usable" is fine. As long as the customer will have a hard time or have to spend some time to modify / alter our original copy.

That said, I've browsed through all the provided link and read all the post and apparently there isn't an easy a real solution to this at this time. I am aware that Acad 2004 and later has a password security option; however, it would be perfect if it also has additional option to lock the document to not editable like the one in Acrobat.

The "adding a disclaimer to a drawing" solution could be an alternate but it may require some extra preparation at our ends. I will look to this later when I get a chance.

Once again, thank you all for your comments and helps.

[jaberwok]

Are you aware of "Cadlock" - available from www.manusoft.com (http://www.manusoft.com/) ?

I don't know how it interacts with the password feature of A2004/5.