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Document security settings
Document security settings

All you need to know about Ansarada's security settings and how to edit/create security for people in the Room.

Ciara Martin avatar
Written by Ciara Martin
Updated over a week ago

ℹ️This feature is only available to Admins.

Security controls

Document Security controls are applied to PDFs within a Teams' or Sub-teams' security settings. Security controls determine what files in the Room people can view, edit, print and save. A document that has Security controls applied to it will also become inaccessible when one of the following conditions are met, whichever comes first: when the Room is closed, when access to the document is revoked for that team, or when the user trying to access the document is Disabled. Customized watermarks add an additional level of security to PDFs.

Secure Office is another feature that can be activated to allow the option of applying Security controls to Microsoft Office files. However, 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.

💡Tip: If you require members of a Team to have different Security settings, create a Sub-team. A Sub-team is still apart of the parent team, but allows you to set different Document access, Security controls and Watermarks. Learn more about Teams and Sub-teams here.

Learn more about document security options and security settings: 

Secure Office, Temp save and Copy options

Secure Office is a feature that allows Admins the option to place security on Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents. By default, Secure Office is off 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 and copy controls are available for Excel, Word and PowerPoint files.
If Secure Office is off: tracking, print, temp save 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.

Learn how to turn Secure Office on and off

💡Tip: If Secure Office is turned off and then turned back on, Security controls must be applied across all Teams and Sub-teams again.

Temp Save

If Secure Office is turned on, Temp save allows Admins to control whether people can temporarily save PDFs and Microsoft Office files. If their access is cut off from the Room or  file, the file will expire.
Internet access is required to open temporarily saved files to ensure access to the file is permitted.

Learn how to turn Temp save on and off.

The Temp save Security control is applied within the Team or Sub-team Security settings. By turning Security controls on, the Temp save feature can be applied to files.
Their access to saved documents will automatically expire when they are disabled from the Room or if the file is disabled or later hidden from their Team.

Learn how to update Team Security settings.

Allow copy

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.

⚠️Good to know: If Security controls are on for a PDF, copying is disallowed by default.

Learn how to turn allow copy on and off.
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Allow Editing

When Editing is turned on, people can save PDFs, Excel, Word and PowerPoint files to their desktop and make some changes. 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.

Learn how to turn editing on.

Here's a chart that outlines what guests can do with Editing turned on and off.

Watermarks

Watermarks can be added to all PDFs. Default Watermarks include the basic user data of the person who downloads the file from the room, including IP address, email address and date/time the file was accessed. Watermarks can also be customized.

Learn how to customize watermarks.
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Adding Security settings

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 change 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 on 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 apply settings to a folder, it will automatically filter down to any subfolders and files that are within.

5. Select Save.

 

Add people to Teams and Sub-teams

Once Security settings have been set, you can easily add people to a Team or Sub-team.

Follow these steps to add people to a Team or Sub-team once you have edited the Security settings:

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. Locate the Team or Sub-team that you would like to add people to.

3. Select the Item menu, then select Add people.

4. Choose the Room role and Q&A Role

⚠️Good to know: If people are added into the Internal tab, only internal Room roles will be shown. If people are added into the External tab, only the Guest Room role will be visible. Learn more about Room roles here and Q&A roles here.

5. Enter the email address of everyone you want to add to the Team or Sub-team.

6. Under Terms of access, select either Once only and when terms are updated or Never.

⚠️Good to know: If the Terms of access are not activated for the Room this won't appear. Learn how activate or deactivate the Terms of access here.

7. Choose if you want to send the invites.

  • Add only: Leave Send invite unchecked, then select Add.

  • Send invites: Select Send invite, then select Add and invite people.

⚠️Good to know: XFA-formatted PDF files and PDF portfolios, will only be secured and watermarked on the cover page.

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