prevent users from printing documents??

[zencalc]

Hi, I have an interesting request from a site owner. she will be publishing all of her protocols on our Intranet Sharepoint site. She will be the only one updating documents. What she wants is for all of her users to only get the protocols from the site. What happens now is that the users print out a protocol and use that protocol, regardless of any updates. So, if the only repository is on the site, they will be forced to use it. So, the request is to disallow printing from the site. I cannot find a way through the site admin tools to do so. Anyone know of a way to do this?
Thanks,
Z.

 

[philhege]

That kinda whacks the intent of Sharepoint. This should be covered by process and policy, not technology.

It's almost impossible (View Page Source, alt-PrntScrn, etc.) to disallow printing in a Web environment.

Good luck.

Phil Hegedusich
Senior Programmer/Analyst
IIMAK

http://www.iimak.com

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I'll have the roast duck with the mango salsa.

 

[zencalc]

Eh... wrong. Technology should be there to use and restrict as need be to support policy and procedure.
But I digress...
in reading some on Microsoft site, I came across the topic of IRM (Information Rights Management); which exactly has to to with restricting the actions that a recipient can do with a particular file. There is also a Rights Managment add-on for Internet Explorer. So now, I'll dive into that to see if its compatible with Sharepoint, and then which version it works with. Here's the shortcut for anyone who's interested:

http://www.microsoft.com/office/editions/prodinfo/technologies/irm.mspx

Hope this helps someone else along the way.
Peace.
Z.

 

[philhege]

Eh... The point of Sharepoint is collaboration, not obfuscation. If she wants something that doesn't print, throw it in Flash.

My $.02.

Phil Hegedusich
Senior Programmer/Analyst
IIMAK

http://www.iimak.com

-----------
I'll have the roast duck with the mango salsa.

 

[Beowulf005]

philhege is correct in the says that no matter what you setup if a person is looking at something on their screen they will be able to print it. (read my sig)

Along with that I understand the need to force people to recheck the libary for updated information. Its not so much a printing issue just a procedure to make sure they are checking for the most uptodate information.

The link you have to the IRM is not so much Sharepoint as it is Word. If the protocols you are saying she will update in only Word documents you can use the IRM within the word document. Then when the users open the file from sharepoint into word. They will not be allow to print using the word print function. Then also install the IE addon for when the Word document opens within IE.
HTH

When frustrated remember, in the computer world there is almost always a backdoor.

 

[eksimba]

If you use Adobe Acrobat, you can easily create pdf files which you can then place in your document library, and for which the security settings disallow printing or copying.

 

[philhege]

Does it disable Alt-Print Screen?

Phil Hegedusich
Senior Programmer/Analyst
IIMAK

http://www.iimak.com

-----------
I'll have the roast duck with the mango salsa.

 

[eksimba]

Does it disable Alt-Print Screen?" Of course not... It just disables File -> Print, which is the intent of the original request, as far as I can tell. That generally takes care of 98% of the issues, depending on the technical ability of the user group and their desire to jump through hoops to bypass policies and procedures. The other 2%? It's much harder to impose software-based solutions on them...