Project Freewheel: Share Images of Designs with Only Those Who Need To Know

The Email this DWF aspect of Project Freewheel was originally intended to make it easier to share designs on the web. The feature allows you to specify a DWF file and send an email with a link to the file. The recipient of the email can use the link to view the design without having to install any software. This works for Windows, Macintosh, and Linux platforms.

A side-effect of this approach has some subtle security differences from publishing a high precision, metadata rich DWF file on the open worldwide web.

1. As it exists today, Project Freewheel does not have layer information. Users cannot turn layers on and off. What you share is what they get. Users cannot deduce information about a design by considering what objects are on what layers. Of course, an alternative to using Project Freewheel is to publish DWF files without layer information. The same approach applies to metadata. Currently Project Freewheel does not display the metadata. Publishers of DWF files have the option to include or exclude metadata.

2. Since the design is uploaded to the Project Freewheel server as a DWF file and not an image file, Project Freewheel users are able to interact with the design via pan and zoom. They can select which sheets they wish to view. Despite this level of interaction, what these users actually receive from the Project Freewheel server are image files. Recall how Project Freewheel works. The users do not receive the original DWF file which could be used for other purposes such as DWF Underlay in AutoCAD. They get PNG image files instead. An alternative to using Project Freewheel is to publish DWF files at low precision to allow accurate printing but not reverse engineering.

3. Coupled with the "Email this DWF" feature, publishers with designs can upload the DWF to the Project Freewheel server and only inform those whom they wish to know about the design. Your design can be our little secret. An alternative is to password protect the DWF file itself or publish the DWF file in a secure location.

Many of you have private DWF files that you don’t want to share with the entire internet, and thus are not posted on public web servers. One solution is to upload a private DWF from your local hard drive to Project Freewheel where the file is hidden from the public and then use the email feature to share that DWF with just the people you want to see it.