Additionally, when you download protected files to your computer, they show up as read‐only files, which means that you can't overwrite the originals. If you edit a protected photo using Digital Photo Professional 4, things proceed normally until you try and save the file. When this happens, you're warned that it's read‐only and told that you can't overwrite the original. Simply save the file with a new name or unprotect the file using your operating system. This practice ensures that your original remains intact.
When you're ready to protect a file or group of files, use these techniques:
- Quick Control screen: Put the camera in Playback mode, display the photo in single-image view, and then press the Q button to display the Quick Control screen. Select the Protect Images symbol, as shown on the left here, and then choose Enable. A key symbol appears at the top of the frame,indicating the file is now locked (protected). To remove the protected status, choose Disable.
During playback, use the Quick Control screen to protect the current file.To protect a batch of images, tap the Info symbol (see the left screen) or press the Info button. The screen shown on the right in the figure appears, enabling you to select a range of files, protect all files on the memory card, or remove protection from all locked files.
- Playback Menu 1: The Protect Images option on Playback Menu 1, shown on the left here, provides the options shown on the right in the figure, which work as follows:
You can access a few additional options for selecting files to protect if you choose Protect Images from Playback Menu 1.- Select Images: Choose this option to protect specific photos or movies. Select a thumbnail and then tap the Set icon or press the Set button to lock the file. A key appears to indicate the locked status. To remove protection, tap the Set icon or press Set to make the key disappear. Scroll the display in the usual playback fashion to reach the next file you want to protect and then lather, rinse, and repeat.
- Select Range: Select a range of sequential images.
- All Images in Folder: If your memory card contains multiple folders, choose this option to select all images in a specific folder.
- Unprotect All Images in Folder: Use this option to unlock all protected images in the folder you select.
- All Images on Card: This option does just what it says: Locks all images on the card.
- Unprotect All Images on Card: Select this option to unlock all pictures and movies on the card.
Whichever option you choose, the last step is to tap the Menu symbol or press the Menu button to exit the protection screens.
If the Image Search function is in force, only files that met the search criteria — also known as found images in Canon lingo — show up during playback, and you get a different selection of protection options. Instead of the Quick Control options shown on the right, your options are Select Range, All Found Images, or Unprotect All Found Images. Go through Playback Menu 1, and you get Select Images, Select Range, All Found Images, and Unprotect All Found. Select Range and Select Images enable you to lock specific files turned up by the search function; the last two protect or unprotect all those files. (Remember that a yellow box around the perimeter of the screen indicates that only files turned up by the most recent search are accessible.)