File locking
At any one time, only one user can have an Axiom Software file open for editing.
When a user opens a file as read/write, the file is "locked" to that user. Any other non-admin users that attempt to open the file can only open it as read-only. When the user closes the file, the lock is removed, and any other user with the appropriate level of rights can open it for editing.
NOTES:
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File lockout behavior only applies to read/write permissions, not to save data rights. It is possible to grant a user read-only permission together with the ability to save data. This is typically only for situations where the file operates as a temporary input form. If a user has read-only and save data rights, then when that user opens the file, lockout does not apply. Another user can still open the file as read/write.
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Opening a file as an Axiom form does not lock the file. Axiom forms are always opened as read-only.
Administrators and file locking
Users with administrator rights have the option to remove another user's lock on a file. Typically, this is only done when a system crash or other technical issue prevents the file lockout from being removed normally. In this case, administrators can use Managed Locked Items to remove the lock on a file.
Administrators can also acquire another user's lock on a file. When an administrator attempts to open a file that another user has open as read/write, the administrator is given the option to open the file as read-only or to acquire the lock. If the administrator acquires the lock, then the file is opened as read/write for the administrator, and the original user no longer has the lock. This may prevent the other user from saving changes to the file, so generally you should not take another user's lock unless you are absolutely certain the other user does not need it.
The original user may be able to save the file if: the document lock is once again available when the user attempts to save, and, no other user has saved changes to the file and therefore incremented the document version. For example, if the administrator takes the user's lock accidentally, then immediately closes the file, and then the original user saves before any other user takes the document lock, then the original user re-acquires the lock and is able to save.
Users with the same file open in multiple sessions
If a user has a file opened in one Axiom Software session, the same user can open the same file in another session, both as read/write. For example, a user can open the same file in the Excel Client and the Windows Client simultaneously. In this situation, the first-saved file "wins" the lockout. If the version in the Excel Client is saved first, then that file becomes locked to the user, and the version in the Windows Client cannot be saved.
