Email documents as password-protected ZIPs
Send documents by email inside an encrypted ZIP — the two checkboxes on the E-mail dialog, the password rule that matters most (the system never transmits it), and what the recipient needs to open it.
At the end of this guide you can email documents wrapped in an encrypted ZIP, and you'll know the two facts that make the difference between secure and stuck: the password travels separately or not at all, and the recipient needs a real ZIP tool to open it.
Send one
Select the document (or several) and choose E-mail from the actions menu. The E-mail Documents dialog opens with To (it searches your address book as you type), CC, Subject, and Message — plus a Template picker when your organization has message templates for manual sends.
Under Attachments, tick Zip attachments — the files travel as one archive, named by Zip file name (
documents.zipunless you say otherwise).
Tick Password protect and enter the password twice. The dialog holds you to it: "Password is required when password protection is enabled," and the confirmation must match.
Send.
If either checkbox is already on and locked, your administrator has made zipping (or encryption) mandatory system-wide — the settings Force zip of all e-mail attachments and Force encrypted password protection of zipped attachments under System Settings. Nothing's wrong; the decision's just been made for you.
The password rule that matters most
Content Central never transmits the ZIP password. It isn't emailed, appended, or hinted — you set it, the archive is encrypted with it, and telling the recipient is entirely yours to do. That's the security model working: a password in the same email as the attachment protects nothing.
So: share it through a different channel — a phone call, a text, a message system — and never in the email that carries the ZIP.
What the recipient needs
The archive is AES-encrypted, which is stronger than the ZIP format's ancient built-in scheme — and the practical consequence is the #1 support call this feature generates: Windows' built-in ZIP extractor can't open AES-encrypted archives. The recipient double-clicks, gets an error or an empty window, and reports "the password doesn't work."
The password is fine. They need a real archive tool — 7-Zip (free) or WinZip — and then the same password opens it. Telling recipients this when you send saves the round trip.
Success check: email yourself a test document, encrypted. The message arrives with the ZIP and without the password anywhere in it; 7-Zip opens it with the password; Explorer's built-in extractor demonstrates the failure you'll now recognize in support calls.
If the E-mail action isn't in your menu
When outgoing email isn't configured, the action doesn't appear at all — silently. That's the administrator's Configure outgoing email page, not a permissions mystery.