When sharing files, or accessing files shared by another user, you may want to edit a particular file.
It may take you some time to work on the file, and in the meantime another other user may decide to edit it as well.
Imagine that you finish working on that file, and you upload it back to the shared folder.
If the other user finishes after you and uploads his/her copy of the file, the changes that you have made will be lost.
To avoid this situation, you can lock a file before starting editing it. When you lock a file:
other users will see that the file is locked, since when and by who
other users will not be able to lock the file, or to update a new version of it (or to delete, rename or move it)
other users will still be able to view the file (ie open for reading), and will be able to change it and save it with a different name
After you have uploaded the updated version, don't forget to unlock the file, so that other users will be able to change it.
navigate in the appropriate folder and select the file by checking its select box
pick the Lock or Unlock action from the page menu
Important: only two users can unlock a locked file:
- the user that originally locked the file
- the owner of the file, i.e. the user that is sharing the file with others
If a file is locked, the folder page that contains it will display who has locked it and since when. This information is also available in the file property page, accessible by clicking the Properties link corresponding to the file.
You can also lock an entire folder. When a folder is locked, all the files in that folder and its subfolders are implicitly locked as well, so they cannot be modified by others. Other users are also prevented from uploading new files to the folder.
To lock or unlock an entire folder, you can either follow the same procedure used to lock a file (see above), or click on the Lock or Unlock links in the Folder menu.