How to Manage Password Protection for Report Security

Bjorn_Wedbratt — Wed, 25 Nov 2015 14:24:16 GMT

Read and write password protection has been added for Report Security. Reports can now be sent with either read password protection, write password protection, or both. There are three types of passwords you can use:

Create read and/or write passwords as an attribute of the recipient. Reports sent to a recipient can be set to require these passwords for read and/or write
Create read and/or write passwords as an attribute of the Task. All reports in the Task can be set to require these passwords for read and/or write
Create different read and/or write passwords for each report in a specific task. Each report in that Task can have its own unique password(s) or no password(s)

The passwords used to protect reports is set in the Format properties window. This window is visible in the Set Report Password Protection step in the Recipient Level Password Protection for Reports section, the Set Password Protection Type step in the Task Level Password Protection for Reports section, and the Set Password Source step in the Report Password section below.

Recipient Level Password Protection for Reports

Preset read and/or write passwords at the individual recipient level in each recipient's settings.

Prepare Special Recipients

Select Recipients in the lower left panel
Select Recipients in the upper left panel
Click on Recipient in the New group of the tool bar

Define New Recipient

Enter a Name for a Recipient that will have no password, Nopassword Recipient for example
Enter a Description (optional)
Enter your own E-mail address

Enter No Password

Leave Password fields empty and click on Save and Close in the Actions group of the tool bar

Clone Nopassword Recipient

Select Nopassword Recipient
Click on the Clone icon in the Actions group

Open "Nopassword Recipient Copy" in Editor Window

Double click on Nopassword Recipient Copy, which you will find at the bottom of the list.

Edit Nopassword Recipient Copy

Adapt the Name to Password Recipient for example
Adapt the Description if it exists
Leave your E-mail address in the Email field

Enter Password

Enter Pa55w0rd in the Password to open field... you can enter one in the Password to write field if you like, just to see what happens.
Check the Show password box if you want visual confirmation of what you have entered

Create New Report Task

Select Tasks in the lower left panel
Select Report Tasks in the upper left panel
Click on Report Task in the New group of the tool bar

Define New Task

Enter a name for your Task in the Name field
Enter a Description (optional)

Add Report to Task

Select the Reports icon in the Show group of the tool bar
Click on the Add icon in the Reports group
Select 010 - Excel Report - Simple Image and Tables in the Select Reports list
Click on the OK button

Set Report Password Protection

Click on the browse button at the extreme right of the Advanced cell in the report item row
Check the Enable security box in the Format properties dialog window
Select Protection using recipient passwords for Password source if it is not already selected
Click on the OK button

Add Recipient(s) to Task

Select the Recipients icon in the Show group of the tool bar
Click on the Add icon in the Recipients group
Select "Nopassword Recipient" and "Password Recipient" by keeping SHIFT pressed
Click on the OK button

Prepare Message

Click on the Message icon in the Mail group
Check the Send Email box

Complete Message and Task

Enter a Subject, using variable tags if you desire (see: Can I include dynamic elements in NPrinting e-mail?)
Enter a message in the Body of the e-mail message
Click on Save and Close in the Actions group of the tool bar

Run Task

Select Password Protected Report Task
Click on the Run icon in the Task group of the tool bar

Report Sent to Password Recipient

This Password window pops up when opening the Report sent to Password Recipient while the Report sent to Nopassword Recipient opens with no challenge.

Task Level Password Protection for Reports

Preset read and/or write passwords at the Task level for all reports and recipients contained in a task.

Clone "Password Protected Report Task"

Make sure Password Protected Report Task is selected
Click on the Clone icon

Open Cloned "Password Protected Report Task"

Double click on Password Protected Report Task Copy, that you will find at the bottom of the list. This will open it in Task Editor.

Edit Cloned Task

Adapt task Name. Use Task-Password Protected Report Task for example
Adapt Description if it exists

Set Task-Level Password

Set Password to open to Pr0t3ct. You can set a password for the Password to write field if you so desire.

Set Password Protection Type

Click on the browse button in the Advanced cell of the report item
Make sure that the Enable security box is checked
Set Password source to Protect using task passwords
Click on the OK button

Set Output Format

Set report Output Format to PDF.

Save Task

Click on the Save and Close icon in the Actions group of the tool bar.

Run "Task-Password Protected Report Task"

Make sure the task, Task-Password Protected Report Task, is selected
Click on the Run icon in the Task group of the tool bar

Open Received Reports

When attempting to open the report sent either to Nopassword Recipient or Password Recipient, this dialog window appears. The recipient must, of course, enter the password Pr0t3ct to access the report in both cases.

Centrally Controlled Password Protection

Control individually for each report in a task which type of password protection is applied with the additional choice to set read and/or write passwords for each individual report

Clone "Task-Password Protected Report Task"

Make sure Task-Password Protected Report Task is selected
Click on the Clone icon

Open Cloned "Task-Password Protected Report Task" and Edit

Double click on Task-Password Protected Report Task Copy, that you will find at the bottom of the list. This will open it in Task Editor.

Adapt task Name. Use Report-Password Protected Report Task for example
Adapt Description if it exists

Remove Task-Level Password

Make sure that the password fields under Report Security are empty, especially the Password to open field.

Set Password Source

Open the Format properties dialog window
Make sure the Enable security box is checked
Set Password source to Protect using the following passwords
Enter the password F0llw1ng in the Password to open field
Click on the OK button

These sub-steps must be done for each and every report in the list that needs to be password protected.

article How to Manage Password Protection for Report Security in Member Articles