Re: [libreoffice-users] Remove Properties and Personal Information

Joe B wrote:
> Hello list,
>
> I am having difficulty getting the "Remove Properties and Personal
> Information" link to work on the Properties>Details tab for a specific file
> that I would like to remove all personal information from
>
> When I click this link, I get a pop up box that that has two radio
> buttons.  One radio button is: "Create a copy with all possible properties
> removed".  I selected that one and clicked OK.
>
> Then another box pops up that says "You need permission to perform this
> action.  You require permission from Joe-PC\Joe to make changes to this
> file."
>
> I click "Try again" and eventually it fails and says:
>
> "Not all personal properties were cleared.  Windows was unable to remove
> properties from the new copies of the selected files.  Before sharing these
> files, you should review them for unwanted personal information."
>
> I realize this is much more a Windows 7 problem than a LibreOffice problem,
> but so was my last question :)
>
> What I've tried so far:
> 1.Properties>Security tab>Edit.

Be careful arbitrarily messing about with the permissions. Adding more 
"Allow" permissions should be fairly safe, but if you start removing 
permissions or setting "Deny" permissions, you can end up making it 
difficult to regain access to the files! If that happens, taking 
ownership should be able to sort it out, although I'm not sure even that 
would help if you've explicitly denied yourself permission to set the 
file's permissions...

> In the box for "Group or user names", I select Joe(Joe-PC\Joe).  In the box
> below, "Permissions for Joe", all items are checked as "Allow", except for
> "Special permissions".

"Special Permissions" is an indication in that basic settings dialog 
that a combination of options has been selected in the advanced dialog 
which doesn't correspond to any of the other basic options ("Full 
control", "Modify", etc.) Since you have all permissions, this 
corresponds to "Full control" and is not a "special" combination.

> I click the "Edit" button.
>
> A new window pops up with just the Security tab showing.  The top box shows
> "Group or user names".  I select Joe(Joe-PC\Joe).
>
> The bottom box below says "Permissions for Joe".  All of the permissions
> have a check box in the "Allow" column.  Additionally, all of the allow
> check boxes are grayed out.  Only the Deny checkboxes are check-able.  The
> "Special Permissions" box is the only box that does not have a check in
> either Allow or Deny.  Both of the Special Permissions boxes are grayed out.

They're greyed out because the permissions are inherited from a 
higher-level folder. You can't remove the "Allow" permissions, but you 
can explicitly select to "Deny" them (don't do that unless you know what 
you're doing!)

> So my question boils down to, How do I get the "Special Permissions" box in
> the Security tab to be check-able?

"Special Permissions" is not explicitly selectable, because it indicates 
an arbitrary combination of advanced options.

> 2. Properties>Security tab>Advanced.
> In the Security tab, there is text at the bottom that says "For special
> permissions or advanced settings, click Advanced."  I click the Advanced
> button.
>
> A new windows pups up "Advanced Security Settings for File foo.bar".  On
> the Permissions tab, there is a box for "Permission entries".  There are 3
> entries: SYSTEM, Administrators(Joe-PC\Administrators), Joe(Joe-PC\Joe).
> The Permission for all three is "Full Control".

Here you have finer-grained control of the permissions. Selecting, for 
example, "Read" in the basic settings corresponds to "List folder...", 
"Read attributes", "Read extended attributes" and "Read permissions" in 
this advanced settings dialog. If you were to select only, say, "Read 
permissions" here and go back to the basic permissions dialog, you'd 
find that "Special permissions" is selected (and greyed out since it 
doesn't correspond to a specific combination of options to be 
added/removed).

Of course, if you're looking at inherited permissions here they'll be 
greyed out as above. It's probably best not to remove the option to 
include inheritable permissions, unless you know what you're doing and 
need to do that for some reason.

> It would seem to me that if I have Full Control permission, then the
> Special Permission check box should be check-able (not grayed out), but
> it's not check-able, and it is grayed out.  What am I missing?

Hopefully the above explanations help. Windows' help (accessed by 
clicking links in the lower left of the dialogs) seems quite good when 
it comes to explaining the permissions, and how the basic options map 
onto combinations of the advanced options. Or at least it is on Windows 
Vista; I'd hope it's at least as good in 7.

> Thank you so much for your help
>
> Joe

I hope that helps clarify. Similar options exist in Windows XP, but most 
home users aren't aware of them because they create all users as 
administrators who can access everything.

The various combinations of permissions can get quite complicated, 
particularly when it comes to inheritance and "deny" permissions, but 
there isn't usually any need to change them. About the only time I've 
ever modified them is to allow other users access to certain files and 
folders, and if you're not confident with editing permissions there are 
easier ways to achieve that - right-click and select "Share...". Don't 
think I've ever used any of the "deny" options, but then I haven't done 
anything more than setting up a PC for the family.

Mark.


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