Disable Print and Save?

[trucker82]

We will be uploading information that needs to be accessible by a lot of people. We are trying to prevent them from reproducing the materials, though, or printing copies and relying on hard copies since we need them to use the Help tool to remain updated. Is there a way to prevent them from printing and saving the files using RoboHelp x5? I've already added javascripts that prevent them from copying/highlighting the text and printing but was wondering if we can also prevent them from saving the files?

[Guest]

good morning, and welcome to the forum.

Even if there is a way to prevent a save, what's to stop them from doing a print screen and printing that?

If there is a will, there is a way to get materials from a web page. Instead, think about perhaps adding a disclaimer (in a footnote in your template would be the best bet) that strongly encourages your users not to rely on what could be outdated printed material. You won't be able to stop them from printing your content, one way or another. But you can at least put the responsibility on them if they have problems because they are using outdated content.

Good luck!

[trucker82]

Good question. I was able to disable the print screen as well by running a javascript that dumps the memory from the clip board. I know that there will always be a way around it but we want to make it as difficult as possible. Any ideas? Our main goal is to prevent them from saving and using save as.

[Captiv8r · Accepted solution]

Hi there

If you are using WebHelp or FlashHelp, you could open the window using JavaScript so that only the frame was present and there were no Browser toolbar buttons or functions for printing or saving.

Cheers... Rick

[trucker82]

That is an option but our company defaults to pop-ups blocked and am worried that having a pretty huge project working on pop-ups may get annoying. Are there any other options?

[Captiv8r]

Hi there

Sure. You could put it in a box. Lock it away. Never reveal it to anyone and deny its very existence. Plausible deniability! Nobody could print or save that way. But, they couldn't actually SEE it either.

I'm just kidding of course. LMarden was spot on in that there really isn't a secure way to prevent this. It's a lot like locking your fence. All it does is keeps the honest folks honest. If you have someone who is determined, they will find a way to get past it. You acknowledged that and said that you were simply trying to place as many obstacles as you can in that path. And it sounds like you have done that already.

Beyond that, unless a really clever soul pops in to advise of some method we are as yet unaware of, I don't believe anything else can be done.

Cheers... Rick

[trucker82]

Got it! Thanks, Captiv8r!