Check out a document (editing locks) Pro

Two people preparing "Rev C" of the same drawing over the same week is how a revision ends up meaning two different files. Check-out claims a document: while you hold it, nobody else can replace its attached file — and since a new version is recorded exactly when the file changes, nobody else can mint a version either. Check in when your revision is up.

FileDeck Pro — the Check-out control sits in the document’s editor, in the Document Controls box.

How it works

• Check out locks the file, not the page: colleagues can still fix a typo in the title or description. Saving a replacement file while someone else holds the lock is refused with a clear notice naming the holder — everything else in that save still goes through.
• Check in releases the lock. An administrator can always release a lock someone left behind, and every lock forgotten for more than 7 days (filterable via filedeck_checkout_days) expires on its own — a holiday can’t strand a document.
• Check-outs and check-ins are written to the activity log.

Where WordPress’s own lock ends and this begins

WordPress already warns when two people have the same editor screen open — a lock measured in minutes. Check-out guards the slower, more damaging race: two people preparing replacement files over hours or days, each unaware of the other. Use both; they don’t overlap.