Microsoft has been providing a permissions system based on their Information Rights Management (IRM) concept for several years now, but with
Office 2010 (including PowerPoint 2010), this whole concept has been implemented so intuitively that almost anyone can use IRM for their PowerPoint
presentations and any other Office documents. Depending upon which version of Windows you use, you may need to download and install a Windows Rights
Management module unless you use Windows 7, if you use the latter configuration, the entire IRM implementation process is painless. If you use
an earlier version of Windows, such as XP or Vista, then you might have to download and install a small WRM client that takes a minute or two.
With WRM, you can prevent unauthorized forwarding, copying, editing, printing, or faxing of your presentation, and specify file expiration dates
for presentations you no longer want anyone to view after a certain date. WRM requires a Windows Live ID, and PowerPoint will prompt you to sign in
with your Live ID or create one when you use WRM for the first time. WRM lets you grant access permissions to your presentations at typically three
levels:
- Unrestricted Access (Owner),
- Restricted Access (Read), and
- Restricted Access (Change).
Before you can access the permission levels, follow these steps to first sign up for Microsoft's free trial service for Windows Rights
Management. As of now, Microsoft does not charge for this service but they may add a fee for continued use in the future:
- Launch PowerPoint 2010, and create a new presentation or open any existing
presentation. Save your presentation at least once.
- Access the File menu, and choose Info option to get to
Backstage view, as shown in Figure 1 below. As you can see, we clicked the Protect Presentation option to bring up a small drop-down menu (see Figure 1 again).
Figure 1: Protect Presentation drop-down menu within Info panel
- Now click the Restrict Permission by People option to bring up a sub-menu as shown in Figure 2. Click the
Manage Credentials option.
Figure 2: Manage Credentials option selected
- This brings up the Service Sign-Up dialog box that you see in Figure 3. Assuming you have not signed up for
this service, select the Yes, I want to sign up for this free service from Microsoft option, highlighted in
red
in Figure 3, and click the Next button.
Figure 3: Service Sign-Up dialog box
Tip: Don't see the
Service Sign-Up dialog shown in
Figure 3? You might see a
message box that asks you to download a Windows Rights Management client instead (see
Figure 4). Go ahead, download and install
the client and follow the steps on this page again. Once you have the WRM client installed, you will see the
Service Sign-Up dialog shown in
Figure 3.
Figure 4: Message box asking to download Windows Rights Management
- This summons the Windows Rights Management dialog box that you can see in Figure 5. If you do not have a
Windows Live ID, check the No, I want to register for a Windows Live ID now option, and click Next button. This
will open your default web browser and bring up the Windows Live ID sign-up page. Assuming you already have a Windows Live ID, just check the
Yes, I have a Windows Live ID option, and click the Next button, this is the option we chose.
Figure 5: Windows Rights Management dialog box
Tip: If you have a Hotmail account, or even a Passport, Live, Zune, or XBox account, then you already have a
Windows Live ID, you can use the same credentials to sign into the Windows Right Management service.
- Type in your Windows Live ID username and password, and click the Sign in button, as shown in Figure 6.
Figure 6: Enter Windows Live ID username and password
- You are next prompted to choose the type of computer you are using, you can choose between a private and a
public or shared computer, as shown in Figure 7, make your choice and click the I accept button.
Figure 7: Choose between private / public or shared computer option
- You might see a quick Signing into Account process, and thereafter you will see the dialog shown in Figure 8 that confirms
your Windows Rights Management service has been set up. Click Finish to complete the process, as shown in Figure 8.
Figure 8: Windows Rights Management service activation completed
- Back within PowerPoint, you will see your Live ID added to the Select User dialog box, as shown in Figure 9. If you always plan to use this Windows Live ID to manage your rights management, then go ahead and select the check-box that says Always use
this account (highlighted in red in Figure 9). Click the OK button.
Figure 9: Select User dialog box
- This brings you to the Permission dialog box that you see in Figure 10, we will explore the options in
this dialog box in a subsequent tutorial.
Figure 10: Permission dialog box
Note: Once you sign up for WRM from within PowerPoint 2010, the service is active thereafter for all Office
2010 applications including Word and Excel.
