Password protection

Two different protections, for two different problems. One locks the file so that it cannot be opened at all; the other lets everybody look but only lets you change anything.

A password on the file

Database › Set Password… asks for a new password twice and stores it in the database file itself. From then on the collection cannot be opened — by All My Movies or by anything else — without it.

Once a password is set, the menu item becomes Change password…: it asks for the old password first, then for the new one. Leaving the new password empty removes the protection.

There is no back door. A lost password means a lost collection; we cannot recover it either. Write it down somewhere, and keep the backups where you can still get at them.

The characters ` and " cannot be used in the password — the database engine treats them specially. The program refuses them rather than storing a password that would not work.

Protection from changes only

The other kind: the collection opens for everyone, but editing needs the password. This is the right one for a family computer, and for a collection shared over a network.

  1. Open Tools › Preferences › Expert options.
  2. Tick Password protection of database changes and set the password.
  3. Decide how the program should behave when somebody tries to edit:
    • Prompt for a password when trying to change the database on — the password dialog appears at the moment somebody tries to change something.
    • Off — no dialogs pop up at all; the collection is simply read-only, and the person who knows the password unlocks it deliberately through Database › Get write access…

While the collection is read-only, the window title says so, and the commands that would change something do nothing.

Read-only for other reasons

A collection also opens read-only when the folder itself does not allow writing — a disc, a network share without permissions, a Windows-protected folder. That is not this protection; copy the file somewhere you own and open the copy.

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