Lock and Unlock a Page or Content for Editing

You lock content or a page while you are editing so only one person can edit it at a time.

As soon as you open the content for editing, the content is locked to others. They can see it, but they can’t edit it until you have closed, published, sent it for approval, deleted it or logged out.

When content is locked, it displays “Locked on [date]” and a “lock” icon. When you sign in, a message will appear.

The locked content appears as a status when:

• an unpublished content item is opened
• “New Version” is clicked to create a new unpublished version.

You can hover over the icon to see who locked the content. The content remains locked until it is unlocked by the current user or by someone else who has permission to unlock it. Content or a page can only be unlocked this way.

Anyone who has the profile for the Unlock option can unlock a piece of content in OrchestraCMS Setup under Utilities. (The Unlock button becomes active when you select a page or content from the list of locked pages or content.)

A piece of content or a page is unlocked:

• When it is closed.
• When it is saved and closed.
• When it is published.
• When it is sent for approval. (This changes its status to “Pending Approval” and makes it unavailable for editing.)
• The current unpublished version is deleted.
• The user logs out of OrchestraCMS.
• The user closes the Salesforce browser window/section. The user is automatically logged out of OrchestraCMS and Salesforce, and all unpublished content or pages are automatically unlocked.

A page or piece of content remains locked:

• When the user switches from the editor section to another section, such as switching to the Media section without closing the Content section.
• When the author clicks the “Back to Salesforce” link.
• When content or a page expires.
• Until the author logs out of OrchestraCMS.

Enable unlock permissions

In OrchestraCMS Setup, under Profiles, click edit beside the relevant profile.

Under Administrative Permissions, select the Unlock locked content and pages check box.

Abnormal Terminations

If your browser crashes, your unsaved changes are lost and the content you’ve been working on remain locked. Once you log back in, the content you were editing show in a list. You are asked if you want to open or unlock them.

• Clicking Open opens all the listed items in their respective editors.
• Clicking Unlock unlocks the listed items.
• Cancel leaves the items locked but does not open them.

This message only appears if there has been an abnormal termination resulting in pages and content being left locked. Only items that remain locked are displayed.

Publishing pages with locked content

Locked content needs to be unlocked in order to be published. If you try to publish a page that contains locked content, you will see a warning notice.