Check-out and Check-in
Check-out is how two people editing the same document avoid producing two different version fives.
Where to find it
On a record, the Documents pane shows Check out against each document and Check in while you hold it. A padlock marks a document somebody else has out, and names them.
What it actually prevents
Nothing technical stops somebody opening a checked-out file. What a check-out prevents is the second upload: while you hold it, nobody else can add a version.
That is the failure it exists for. Two people working from the same v4 and both uploading a v5 does not produce a conflict anybody can see — it produces one v5 and one silently discarded afternoon.
A lock expires
Every check-out has an expiry, and a document stops being checked out the moment it passes — whether or not the housekeeping task has run. The task tidies the record; it does not enforce the rule.
That ordering matters. It means a stopped task engine cannot leave a document permanently checked out to somebody who has left.
An administrator can release one
For the case the expiry does not cover: somebody checked a document out, left, and the lock has weeks to run. The release is recorded — who broke it, and when — because breaking somebody’s lock is an event and not a tidy-up.
A type can require it
Document types have a require check-out setting. With it on, a new version cannot be added unless the person adding it holds the lock. That is the right default for controlled documents and the wrong one for photographs.
Check in when you are finished, not when you are done for the day
A lock held overnight is a lock nobody can work round. If you are not going to upload today, check it in.
Worked example
A fire risk assessment is checked out on a Monday for a site visit. A colleague opening the record sees the padlock and the name rather than uploading their own revision from a copy they had locally. The assessment comes back as v3 on the Wednesday, with a comment saying which sections changed.
Recommendations
- Require check-out on controlled document types and leave it off elsewhere.
- Set an expiry that matches the work — a day for an edit, not a month.
- Check in before you stop, even without a new version.
- Do not make releasing routine. A lock broken weekly is a lock nobody trusts.