Secure document distribution

[CajunCAD]

I am looking for some suggested methods for distributing drawings &/or specificaiton sheets to our Sales & Operations personnel.

My company's official policy is to create a PDF and then add security to allow viewing & printing only. The problem I am encountering is that our Sales people "need" to be able to insert the documents (drawings/spec sheets) into a MS Word bid package and when we are a subcontractor on a project our Operations people "need" to insert our documents into the format of the primary contractor for the project.

The workaround I currently use is to save the SW drawing as a DWG, insert this into MS Word and then copy and paste special as a Metafile. This essentially becomes a picture file in Word that cannot be editted.

I have tried to saveas TIFF - file size is prohibitive and resolution is terrible. In the process of writing this I discovered the saveas JPG and it looks promising although my coworker has previously encountered difficulty with the company logo in the titleblock not being saved in the JPG.

Does anyone have a good method to save/convert a Word document into a secure format that the Sales/Operations personnel can insert into Word document?

Sorry for the long rambling post but if anyone has suggestions they would be extremely helpful.
Louis

 

[IRstuff]

Why does it have to be "inserted" into another document?

We usually get RFP packages with separate Word and PDF files.



TTFN

 

[IFRs]

If your sales people create pdf documents for distribution to customers (to maintain security, etc) they can insert your pdf drawings into their stuff. Everyone is happy!!

 

[CajunCAD]

I don't know why our documents have to be inserted into documents submitted to customers, contractors, etc... I have pushed to have the PDF files submitted as attachments without success.
The PDF files submitted to Sales and Operations have security set to allow only printing. If we send out PDF files without security enabled someone will try to do a favor by changing a document without bothering me. Now we have different documents with the same document # and revision level.
Unfortunately it looks like I will continue jumping thru a couple of hoops to copy/paste special my content to create Windows picture files.

 

[IRstuff]

But why are the other documents issued in Word, when they can just as easily be PDF'd as well?

Then, insertion as an attachment is trivial.

TTFN

 

[CajunCAD]

If a PDF has security enabled it cannot be inserted into another PDF (at least I haven't found a way to do this).

If a PDF is issued without security, it is just a matter of time before someone modifies the document.

 

[melone]

Anything electronic can be modified! If is that essential, send paper copies (and keep a copy for yourself).

 

[IRstuff]

It's beginning to sound more like a management problem than a document problem. The lack of configuration control or lack of trust in the process is a management problem.

Your statement [qoute]Now we have different documents with the same document # and revision level.
Unfortunately it looks like I will continue jumping thru a couple of hoops to copy/paste special my content to create Windows picture files[/quote] is untrue if you have proper document control ala ISO 9000. Since it's YOUR document, only the electronic and configuration controlled version of YOUR document is the correct one.

TTFN

 

[CajunCAD]

I couldn't agree more. Until it is an unacceptable practice to modify a revision controlled document (management must enforce this) I'm stuck with extra work to stay out of trouble with quality audits.

Thanks to all for the suggestions.