Locking Files Before Editing

When you are opening a shared document on Box Drive, it is best practice to first lock the file before editing. Locking a file means that no one else can make edits to it other than the user who locked it, which will prevent someone from editing a file while you are making edits to it via Box Drive. If someone does try to access the file while it’s locked, they will receive a message saying that they can’t make edits to the document with an option to open it as Read-Only. Once you have finished making your edits, simply unlock the file to allow others to access the file.

To lock a file, right-click the file and click “Lock File” as pictured below:

Once you have locked the file, the icon will indicate that it is locked with a tiny lock on it, as pictured below:

After you have completed your edits, unlock the file by right-clicking the file and selecting “Unlock File” as pictured below:

Unlocking Files that Another User has Locked

Anyone with editing privileges to a file can unlock it after it has been locked even if they were not the user who originally locked it (this is to prevent a file from accidentally staying locked when someone forgets to unlock it and goes on vacation). Because of this, the best practice with unlocking a file that is locked is to contact the person who locked it and receive their approval for unlocking the file before doing so.

If someone else has locked a file, you can check who has locked the file by viewing it on the Box web client. To do so, right-click the file in Box Drive and click “View on Box.com” as pictured below:

Then, hover your cursor over the red lock icon at the top of your screen and the text below will display who has locked the file, as displayed below: