How to prevent a document from being edited?

Question

What are the options (if any) for locking an uploaded document to prevent or discourage Check Out/editing.

[Our environment is MOSS 2007, and the library setting enforces checkout for editing.]

• I could leave it Checked Out to me forever.
• I could presumably set permissions so the document no longer inherits them from the library, but instead prevents some groups or users from modifying, but as our permissions are mostly granted by Group, setting individual permissions like that isn't really suitable.
• I could edit the file myself in MS Word and set a password on it. While that should prevent editing, it is rather clunky, with protection being implemented inside the document and not visible in the SharePoint UI.
• I could rename the Document "xxxxxx - Final version Do Not Edit". Again somewhat clunky, although it does offer text advising other users why they should not edit the document. (Of course it does not prevent them from doing so.)

I see no option in the Sharepoint properties for the document, where it might have been good to have an  "Allow Checkout" or "Read-only" property.  I do acknowledge that there is a difference between absolute prevention and simply making it difficult enough that users realize they aren't supposed to modify the doc. (The latter is what I am seeking.)

regards,
Andy

Answer 1

You could use the Record Site template and therefore set the documents to be "sealed".

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Ricardo Magalhães

Answer 2

Thanks for your quick response. I've not seen the Record Site template. I assume it is not exposed by our site admins. However I infer from what you say that documents are Sealed from the moment they are uploaded, whereas in our use case the documents go through a period of collaboration before they are be considered "frozen". 

That is partly because they get sent to another storage platform where there would be a risk of "parallel" changes if we did not lock down the SharePoint version.  Of course that is not very streamlined, but I have no control over that process.

Answer 3

The Record Center (what I called Record Site Template) is a site template you can use to create an area where you can place your docs that need to be sealed.

They are not sealed when they are uploaded, but you will have the oportunity to place them in that "sealed" status within the REcord Center after the collaboration work is done, this way you insure that no more changes are done to the docs.

Try to look for Sharepoint Record Center, and you will get the big picture.

here are some references:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepointserver/HA101735961033.aspx
more advanced reference:
http://grounding.co.za/blogs/neil/archive/2008/03/04/setting-up-a-record-centre-in-sharepoint.aspx

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Ricardo Magalhães

Answer 4

Thanks for the further explanation and references. It seems like it would work for my requirement of making a document read-only,  though it is something of a sledgehammer cracking a nut solution as it has a lot of extra features for document management.  There's an additional hurdle at my location that the template isn't available so I'll have to persuade the Admins to configure it if I can't find a less intrusive solution.

Answer 5

Isn't it true, however, that when documents are moved to a record center they lose permissions so that all documents can be viewed by all users having access to the record center?  Finding a way to "lock down" documents within a library is something we are strugling with as well.

Answer 6

Can you do what you want with folders? Then you only need to set permissions for the folder, and not for each individual file.

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Mike Smith TechTrainingNotes.blogspot.com

Answer 7

You could also move the document to a different library after editing is finished. For example you would have two document libaries:

Draft Documents (Everyone would have contributor access)
Final Documents (Everyone would have read only access)

After the document is completed you could then use "Send To" or "Manage Content and Structure" to move the document into the new library.  This allows you to configure security one time at the library level rather than having to manually maintain permissions on a per-document level which I would not advise. It also clearly advises the users where the editable and final versions are located.

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MCTS: SharePoint 2007, Web Applications
MCPD: Web Developer
My Blog: http://corypeters.net

Answer 8

We have found that a useful standard is to publish the final version of all documents in PDF format, thereby ensuring that they can't be altered and also providing demonstrable proof that they have not been altered. 

The differing icon for the PDF is an effective notification to users of the state ofd the document.

Answer 9

Andy,


Please check the workflow. You can use SharePoint designer and create a custom workflow on the document library. So any document uploaded in the document library, will be changed to check-in status. Therefore no body can edit this document library.

Alternate option is go to document library settings section. There you can change the permissions of other groups in such a way that they can only view the document.

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Thanks, Himadrish

Answer 10

Hi Andy,

If you want lifetime protection on your document, you can consider using Rights Management Service http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/technologies/rightsmgmt/default.mspx . SharePoint 2007 has support to protect document with RMS.
Using RMS, makes sticky the protection policy to the document. Even tough user has downloaded the document from Document Library or Record Center, there won't be any options to tamper it.

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Best regards,

Riwut Libinuko
SharePoint Architect, Singapore
Microsoft MVP | SharePoint Server | Singapore
Blog : http://blog.libinuko.com

Answer 11

There is few kludge solution to this

1. Write an edit event handler and stop editing
2. Customize edit page and remove editing

:) It know its not correct solution but might be used as per requirement

Answer 12

I have found 2 simple ways to do this:

1. Create a new library (folder) and copy or move the documents using the Site Admin -> Content and structure tool. This will allow you to maintain all your meta data for the files (Author, version history, comments , etc.). Make this new library Read Only to all the users that you are concerned with. Don't move the docs using Sharepoint Designer, it will make you the author and erase any version history.
2. If you are not doing a lot of documents or you need to keep them in their existing library, you can Manage the Permissions for each file seperately in the drop down Edit menu. Again, make the document Read Only for the affected group.