Frequently Asked Questions

Our Customer Service and Support Team has compiled the following list of the most commonly asked questions and answers to better help you find the information you need. This list is designed to be a tool for you and is updated on a regular basis; please feel free to send us any questions, comments or suggestions at support@omniva.com.

General questions

Software compatibility

Using Policy Client

Security concerns

Corporate usage

Contacts, signup and product issues

If you have a question about our company or product that you don't find here, email us.

General questions

What is Policy Client?

How does it work?

Do other email encryption packages provide the same protection that Policy Client does?

Software compatibility

What version of Microsoft Outlook do I need?

Is Outlook Express just another version of Outlook?

Can Policy Client affect my existing email archives?

Can I still use Microsoft Word as my email editor?

Can I use Policy Client at home?

How do I uninstall?

Using Policy Client

How do I send a message?

How do these messages appear to the recipient?

With Policy Client installed, can I still send plainmail messages?

Can I send attachments with Policy Client?

When using Policy Client, will the format of my messages change?

Is there a limit on message size?

Can I read Policy Client messages when offline?

Security concerns

Does your company have access to Policy Client users' private emails?

What happens when someone replies to or forwards my messages?

Can Policy Client messages be copied or printed?

Can I recover Policy Client messages that have expired?

Can the sender ensure that only the intended recipient views the message?

Can Policy Client messages be sent internationally?

If I delete a message in my Sent Items folder, is the recipient's copy also deleted?

How secure are the keys to my Policy Client messages?

Corporate usage

What happens when my company evaluates Policy Manager?

Should our company use the Policy Manager system for all our email or just sensitive material?

Does my company have to buy any hardware to support Policy Client and the Policy Manager system?

We have 1,000 users. How long will it take to install the system?

Can our IT department customize and change corporate settings when necessary?

Contacts, signup and product issues

If I sign up now, will I receive upgrades?

If I uninstall Policy Client will I be able to read Policy Client messages?

How do I report a bug or make a suggestion?

When will you have Policy Client ready for Lotus Notes?

What is Policy Client?

Policy Client is an extension to your email software that allows you to send and receive messages that eventually become unreadable. You retain control over the life of an email, even after it leaves your outbox.

The Enterprise Edition Policy Client is a component in the Policy Manager system for enforcing corporate email retention policy. [related questions]    

How does it work?

When you click Send with Policy, your message is encrypted, and it passes through regular email channels as unreadable text. When a recipient opens the message, they "borrow" the unique key that was used to encrypt the message. After a set period--minutes, hours, days or months, depending on your preference--the key self-destructs, rendering all copies of the message permanently unreadable.
[related questions]    

Do other email encryption packages provide the same protection that Policy Client does?

Most of the "secure email" products available today focus on protecting messages in transit. Because these systems generally retain encryption keys, a delivered message is permanently readable and beyond the sender's control. The Policy Managers system is different because it destroys the key needed to read a message, preventing future access.
[related questions]    

What version of Microsoft Outlook do I need?

Policy Client works with Microsoft Outlook 98, 2000, or 2002/XP running on Windows 95, 98, 2000 or NT.
[related questions]    

Is Outlook Express just another version of Outlook?

No, Outlook Express is a completely different product. Policy Client does not support Outlook Express.
[related questions]    

Can Policy Client affect my existing email archives?

No, we do nothing to messages you saved or sent before you installed our software.
[related questions]    

Can I still use Microsoft Word as my email editor?

No. When Word is set as the editor in Outlook, the Outlook toolbars, including the Send with Policy button, are not shown during message composition. Without this button, you cannot send Policy Client messages. A solution is now under construction to support users who prefer Word as their email editor. (The Word as Editor setting is changed through Tools > Options on the Mail Format tab.)
[related questions]    

Can I use Policy Client at home?

Yes, Policy Client works over any type of modem or network connection available.
[related questions]    

How do I uninstall?

Through the Add/Remove Programs function, found in the Windows Control Panel. For further details, see the User Guide.
[related questions]    

How do I send a Policy Client message?

To send a Policy Client message, you click Send with Policy instead of the regular Send button. You can continue to receive and file messages just as you did before.
[related questions]    

How do these messages appear to the recipient?

If the recipient has Policy Client software, Policy Client messages are identical in appearance to plainmail messages. For other recipients, these messages contain information to make it clear to the recipient that the messages are created with Policy Client and will become unreadable after a specified time.

Mail programs that enable i-frame HTML messages (most of today's mail readers do) display Policy Client emails in the message window. For users without this capability, the text of Policy Client messages is included as an attachment that can be viewed in a Web browser. For an example of how Policy Client messages appear to recipients without our software, take a look at a screen shot of a received Policy Client message.
[related questions]    

With Policy Client installed, can I still send plainmail messages?

Of course. Use the regular Send button to send a message plainmail.
[related questions]    

Can I send file attachments with Policy Client?

Yes, and you have the option of protecting the attachments with PolicyClient. When you do this, the policy applied to the message causes the fileto expire on the same date the message expires.
[related questions]    

When using Policy Client, will the format of my messages change?

No. You can send HTML or "rich text" messages using Policy Client, and all special fonts and character formats come through to your recipients as you intended.
[related questions]    

Is there a limit on message size?

No.
[related questions]    

Can I read Policy Client messages when offline?

Yes. Messages that have been opened recently can be read even if you are not connected to a network or modem. Recipients without Policy Client software, however, must be connected to the Internet to read Policy Client messages. Learn more about offline reading.
[related questions]    

Does your company have access to Policy Client users' private emails?

No. Our servers do not store or route your messages, only the message keys. This is a similar role to that of Certificate Authorities such as Verisign, who use encryption technology to make online transactions secure.
[related questions]    

What happens when someone replies to or forwards my message?

Whether or not a recipient has Policy Client software, all forward/reply copies expire with your original message.

A Policy Client user may send a reply or forward that is set to expire before the original message, but because the original sender's expiration setting is always honored, nobody can extend the life of the conversation by setting a later expiration.
[related questions]    

Can Policy Client messages be copied or printed?

Yes, unless the message is sent with copy/print blocking enabled.See the User Guide for details on the limitations of copy/print blocking
[related questions]    

Can I recover Policy Client messages that have expired?

No. But neither can anyone else.
[related questions]    

Can the sender ensure that only the intended recipient views the message?

Our technology doesn't yet address user authentication.
[related questions]    

Can Policy Client messages be sent internationally?

Yes.
[related questions]    

If I delete a message in my Sent Items folder, is the recipient's copy also deleted?

No. For now, Policy Client messages are only destroyed upon expiration. Deleting the message by any other method is just like deleting plainmail; it has no impact on the other copies.
[related questions]    

How secure are the keys to my Policy Client messages?

Like most commercial servers, the Policy Server that creates and manages your message keys is located in a guarded and secure collocation facility. All Omniva Policy Servers utilize RAID-5 disk storage to protect against data loss should an internal storage device fail. And to protect your keys against loss in the event of a catastrophic server failure (or connectivity failure of the entire collocation facility), we mirror the key storage and destruction functions of every Policy Server, on a duplicate machine located in another collocation facility.
[related questions]    

What happens when my company evaluates Policy Manager?

We offer a pilot program with full support for corporations interested in Policy Manager. Request specific details from sales@omniva.com.

Corporations who decide not to adopt Policy Manager permanently can uninstall easily. No Policy Client messages created during the evaluation period are destroyed before their original expiration.
[related questions]    

Should our company use Policy Client to send all our email or just sensitive material?

In a corporate setting, the Policy Manager system is meant to be used in conjunction with a corporate email policy that covers all emails sent from a site.The type of policy the company follows dictates how they will set up the service.
[related questions]    

Does my company have to buy any hardware to support Policy Client and to use the Policy Manager system?

No. Omniva offers hosted service for networks of all sizes. If your company is looking for a 100% onsite solution please contact us for further information.
[related questions]    

We have 1,000 users. How long will it take to install the system?

Installation goes quickly. Some of our current customers have performed large-scale rollouts in a matter of hours.
[related questions]    

Can our IT department customize and change corporate settings when necessary?

As part of our hosted service, we help you set up Policy Manager to reflect your corporate email retention policies. Authorized policy administrators from your organization can log in to Policy Studio to modify policies at any time.
[related questions]    

If I sign up now, will I receive upgrades?

Yes. When new features are introduced, Policy Client informs you that an upgrade is available. We are committed to backward compatibility in all future versions, so none of your existing messages will be lost.
[related questions]    

If I uninstall Policy Client will I be able to read Policy Client messages?

Yes, sent or received messages in your mail folders can still be read if they haven't expired. They will be displayed in HTML style as for other users without Policy Client.
[related questions]    

How do I report a bug or make a suggestion?

We can always use your feedback. Send email to Support.
[related questions]    

When will you have Policy Client ready for Lotus Notes?

We expect to have support for Lotus Notes later this year.
[related questions]