IRM protection at workspace level | VIA Pro

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Applies to: Workspace owners

Information Rights Management (IRM) protection controls how documents, that is downloaded PDFs and Microsoft Office documents, can be used after they are downloaded from VIA Pro. IRM can be applied at the workspace level by workspace owners, or across all workspaces by Business Group Coordinators using Policies. If IRM is applied at the business group policy level, workspace owners cannot disable it.

Video - IRM protection in workspaces

Workspace owners can manage IRM protection within their workspace; watch this video tutorial for a comprehensive overview. 

 

Icons_Approved.svgHow to turn IRM protection on/off for a workspace

Turn on IRM Protection

  1. Click the VIA icon on the top-left of the screen.
  2. On the Workspaces page, click the workspace name.
  3. Click the Settings icon and select Turn IRM Protection On. A confirmation dialog appears.
  4. Click Turn On to confirm.

Note: Once enabled, IRM protection applies to all files in the workspace. To enable IRM protection across all workspaces in a business group, see Configuring policies.

Turn off IRM Protection

  1. Click the VIA icon on the top-left of the screen.
  2. On the Workspaces page, click the workspace name.
  3. Click the Settings icon and select Turn IRM Protection Off. A confirmation dialog appears.
  4. Click Turn Off to confirm.

Icons_Approved.svg IRM-protected documents

Some PDF and Microsoft Office documents in a workspace may be protected using Intralinks IRM Protection. Protected documents have additional security restrictions and behave differently from standard documents.

IRM Protection applies only to supported PDF and Microsoft Office documents. PDFs larger than 500 MB and Microsoft Office documents larger than 150 MB cannot be IRM-protected.

Identifying IRM-protected documents

IRM-protected documents are marked in the document list to indicate that restrictions apply.

Viewing IRM-protected documents

  • IRM-protected documents only open in the browser-based viewer. 
  • Users must log in with an account that has permission to access the document.
  • This is the intended and supported way to view IRM-protected documents.

Downloading IRM-protected documents

Downloading an IRM-protected document downloads a PDF file.

  • The PDF file includes a message explaining that the document is protected.
  • The PDF contains a link that opens the document securely in the browser.

The downloaded file does not contain the document content and cannot be opened in native applications such as Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and PDF readers.

This behavior is expected and helps prevent offline access and unauthorized sharing.

Accessing files downloaded from legacy VIA Pro

Some legacy VIA Pro downloaded files may use an older IRM technology and may still open in their native applications on Windows after authentication. These files cannot be opened on macOS using the old IRM technology. 

If you have made changes to a previously downloaded file, ensure that those changes are preserved and accessible before relying on the file for continued access. You can move these files to VIA Pro.

Moving previously downloaded legacy VIA Pro files to VIA Pro

To move a previously downloaded file from legacy VIA Pro to VIA Pro, upload the file to an IRM-protected workspace. You can do this if you are the Owner or Editor for the workspace.

  • If the original workspace is available: You can upload the file to the original workspace as new file.
  • If the original workspace is unavailable: You can contact the workspace owner for assistance with uploading the file to an IRM-protected workspace.

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