Searching through the forum I find people asking for the ability to lock a group or document so that it cannot be seen without a password. It appears that it has been promised but I haven’t found it in the manual. This is something that I’m very interested in. Is there a way to hide or lock documents in Devonthink?
Where do you see this “promise” ? We aren’t in the habit of making them.
You can lock a document via Data > Mark > as Locked but it locks the contents, not the filename or ability to add Tags / change dates / etc.
When I said that functionality was promised I was talking about something I was reading in the forum. To be honest I’m not sure if it was a person who actually works for Devon. I was not trying to offend you or put you on the spot.
Anyway, I was hoping that the functionality was there and I just hadn’t figured it out. Data/Mark/as Locked is, I think, not what I’m talking about. I don’t want the contents of a document to be frozen, what I want is to be able to hide or mask the contents from people who could be on my iPad which is not password protected.
Most of what I write doesn’t need to be hidden away but I’m very honest when I write and sometimes I make comments that I don’t want the world to read. I’m looking for the ability to password protect files or groups from prying eyes. Can it be done?
No offense taken (and apologies to you if I offended).
Currently no, there is no way to do this (and if there is a hack, it’s not going to be something pretty or easy to do).
I also have overwhelmingly “unclassified” material in my DBs, yet there are a few sensitive issues, e.g. grant reviews, job applications. If only on the Mac, I’d keep them all in a separate DB that is stored on a 256-bit encrypted virtual disk; normally that DB/disk would be unmounted, unless needed. However, it becomes tricky when you also want to sync these items to DTTG, which has no such provisions. In that case there is only one option: keep all those docs encrypted themselves, with a single, standard password. In many cases, only the contents are sensitive. In some cases, even the filename can be revealing. In the latter case, you might have to make them generic as well.
Generally, locking mechanisms as a means of security are not very good. They keep people out on a superficial level. Someone who has access to the DB itself (“show package contents”) can access these files independent of whatever protection mechanism the DB software implements.
Similar issues exist with password-protected, but unencrypted files, such as OS X-compatible MS Office files. If the content of the file can be accessed by other software that understands the file format, but ignores the protect flag, all your effort was for nothing.
Upshot: without actual content encryption, lock mechanisms are worth little.
If you must have the sensitive files on the iPad, the best bet is to generally encrypt them with a standard password. Acrobat Pro for example allows you to batch encrypt files to do this in an efficient manner.
Thank you for a very thorough explanation of encryption options for my sensitive files. Using a separate database for sensitive files sounds like the best option and I think that I can do that. There is no reason to have every file available at all times, it’s just easier.
AMEN! There is NO reason to have EVERY file available at all times… regardless of how easy it may be.
Free yo’self from the tyranny of the mobile! 