Check Out, Check In?

​

User often don't even realize that they have a document in 'Check Out' mode or forget to 'Check In' the file. So, why is it important to 'Check In' a document or a page?

• Changes made to a 'Check Out' document will NOT be visible to anyone
• No one else is able to edit the document.

So, let's dive into these terms of Check Out, Check In, Discard Check Out, Co-authoring, and finally Version, but first Settings.

Settings

Documents posted on SharePoint allows users to collaborate (aka co-authoring) in real-time, which means multiple users can view the same file at the same time in 'Read Only' mode. Co-authoring eliminates the need to email team members an updated document when it changes.
Site owners may or may not elect to enable features that allow co-authoring which can affect how users interact with a document. For example, if the 'Require Check Out' and/or 'Open in the browser' features are disabled, users will be prompted to select 'Read Only' or Edit mode when they try to open a file (Figure 3).

Check Out

'Check Out' in SharePoint is the same concept as checking out a book at a library. In a library for SharePoint when a document is available for editing it will NOT have a green arrow, whereas a file that is in 'Check Out' mode has a downward pointing green arrow. To view who has the file checked out, hover your mouse over the downward pointing green arrow.
When users need to edit a document, they can either 'Check Out' the document (located on the Ribbon, Figure 1) which is best practice or click the document to open it. While the document is in 'Check Out' mode, other users will still be able to view the document in 'Read Only' mode but they will NOT be able to edit or view any changes to the file until it is 'Check In' mode.
When users need to edit a document, they can either 'Check Out' the document (located on the Ribbon, Figure 1) which is best practice or double click the document to open it. While the document is in 'Check Out' mode, other users will still be able to view the document in 'Read Only' mode but they will NOT be able to edit or view any changes to the file until it is 'Check In'.

Figure 1: Open & Check Out group

Security dialog box

After checking out a document and clicking it to open it, the Open Document dialog box displays a message, "Some files can harm your computer…" (Figure 2). If the source is trust worthy, click the OK button and the document will open on the user's computer (client).
 
Figure 2: Open Document - Security message

Click document

When users click the file, the Open Document dialog box message displays, "You are about to open…" prompting users to select 'Read Only' or Edit (Figure 3). If the 'Require Check Out' feature is enabled the dialog box with 'Check Out and Edit' (Figure 4) will display.

Open Document

​ Figure 3: Open Document - Edit

Figure 4: Open Document - Require Check Out enabled

Read Only mode

When users select the 'Read Only' button, the document will download to the user's computer. After a document has opened any user can edit the file by selecting the 'Edit Document' (Figure 5) or 'Check Out' (Figure 6) button on the Message Bar (yellow ribbon). The file will immediately be locked and placed in Edit or 'Checked out and Edit' mode. While the file is locked other users will not be able to edit the document but are still able to read the file.

Edit or 'Check Out and Edit mode'

When the Edit (Figure 3) or 'Checked out and Edit' (Figure 4) button is selected, the file downloads to the user's computer and is available for editing.

Edit

 Figure 5: Edit Document

Check out and Edit

Figure 6: Check Out

Check In

Once editing has been completed it is crucial to select 'Check In' icon on the ribbon under the Open & Check Out group (Figure 7) so others can view the changes. If Version is enabled the system will save a version of every file edited.

Discard Check Out

If at any time users change their mind about checking out a document, no worries! Simply click the 'Discard Check Out' iconon the ribbon under the Open & Check Out group (Figure 7). None of the changes made to the document will be captured in the Version History.
 
Figure 7: Discard Check Out

Co-authoring

To co-author a document, the 'Open in the browser' needs to be enabled. Users can edit a document on the browser at the same time without downloading the file to their computer. Users click the document and it will open on the browser in 'Read Only' mode. Users will have the option to 'Edit in Word' or 'Edit in Word Web App' (Figure 8).
 
Figure 8: Edit Document 

Edit in Word

When users elect to 'Edit in Word' the document opens on the users' computer but it does not exist on their computer, it exists on the server which allows multiple users to edit a document at the same time. When a user is editing a paragraph, the system locks down that paragraph and a message displays letting you know that is currently locked by the user who is editing that paragraph.
Note: the Microsoft Office dialog box sometimes opens to warn users that, "Some files contain viruses that can be harmful to your computer…" (Figure 9), if the file its trustworthy, click the Yes button.
 
Figure 9: MS - warning
The Save (Figure 10) command has a synchronized icon at the bottom right-hand corner, this allows users to edit the document on their PC but save to the server.

Figure 10: Ribbon - Save icon

Edit in Word Web App

When users select to 'Edit in Word Web App', multiple users are able to access the file at the same time and see the changes in real-time. On the task bar you can view the users who have the document opened in the PEOPLE EDITING icon (Figure 11) with the number of users accessing the document. By selecting the drop-down arrow to the right of PEOPLE EDITING, users can see who has the document open.

Figure 11: People Editing
As users open or close the document, messages (Figure 12) will briefly display informing users that someone has opened or closed the document for editing.

Figure 12: Brief messages
NOTE:  If co-authoring, it is recommended turning on at least major versioning in the library, just in case someone makes a mistake and uploads a document of the same name in a library, allowing you to restore a previous version of the document.

Version

So how does someone know who edited the file and what was edited? The 'Version History' feature must be enabled to track changes, who made the changes, and timestamps the change. To access previous versions of a document, select the file and click the FILES tab on the ribbon under the Manage group, click ' Version History' icon. The 'Version History' (Figure 13) displays the version No. , Modified date, Modified By, Size and Comments fields.

Figure 13: Version History

To view a previous version of a file click on any link in the Modified column, the document will open in 'Read Only' mode with the PREVIOUS VERSION (Figure 14) Message Bar with two options, the Compare and Restore buttons.

Figure 14: Previous Version

Compare

The Compare button will open the Compare Result (Figure 15) document which can be saved to your computer. The document default has four quadrants: Revisions, Compared Document, Original Document, and Revised Document.

Figure 15: Compare Result

Restore

Selecting the Restore button displays a dialog box informing users that, "You are about to replace the current version with the selected version" (Figure 16), creating a new version of the item being restored (Figure 17).

 Figure 16: Message from webpage
The system created another entry (No. 3) for the restored version.
 
Figure 17: Version History 3.0

---

 If you are a site owner and would like to learn how to enable the features mentioned in this blog, post your comment.

What does it all mean: Permissions Groups, Permission Level, or Permissions!

In effort to help end-users understand how permissions works, I have written this blog on the basics of Permissions Groups, Permissions Levels and Permissions. See what I mean about similar wording!

So, why is permission so important? Permissions help owners manage sites efficiently and secure the content of the site by providing the right Permissions Groups, Permissions Levels and Permissions for their team.

“The easiest way to work with permissions is to use the default groups and permissions levels provided, which cover most common scenarios.” Microsoft

Owners can set fine-grained permissions beyond the default levels and it is best business practice to NEVER change the default settings as this will create inconsistencies throughout the collection sites, instead, create customized role definition.

Before we get into permissions, allow me to define ‘actions’. Actions are activities that users can perform within SharePoint. For example opening, adding, editing, or deleting a document. These are a few of the activities that allow end-users to collaborate with their team.

Permissions Groups

Microsoft defines Permission Groups as, "…a collection of users who all have the same set of permissions to sites and content. Rather than assign permissions one person at a time, you can use groups to conveniently assign the same permission level to many people at once".

SharePoint has three primary association Permission Groups: Visitors, Contribute, and Owners (as depicted on the pyramid image). Each Permission Group inherits the permission from the top level. For example, the Contribute group is able to do everything that the Visitors group can do, but cannot perform the actions that Owners can do. Notice that the top level is smaller, therefore it has fewer actions associated with that group. Unlike the bottom which has a lot more actions to manage.

Permission Levels

Microsoft has packaged several default groups with available actions, known as Permission Levels. Examples of Permission Levels are Full Control, Contribute, Read, etc.). These Permission Levels are then assigned to the Permission Groups mentioned above.

Permission Level	Description
Full Control	This permission level contains all permissions and it is assigned to site Owners. This permission level cannot be customized or deleted.
Contribute	Can add, edit, and delete items in existing lists and document libraries and it is assigned to site Members.
Read	Read-only access to the Web site. Users with this permission level can view items and pages, open items, and documents. It is assigned to site Visitors.

Permissions

There are 33 Permissions that are clustered into: List Permissions, Site Permissions, and Personal Permissions. Each Permission has associated actions. Below are tables for each cluster (List, Site, and Personal) with the Permissions and Permission Levels.

An X indicates that Permission are enabled for that Permission Level. For example, Manage Lists, is enabled for the Owners Group, whereas Contribute and Read are disabled.

List

Permissions	Permission Levels
	Owners	Contribute	Read
Manage Lists	X	NO	NO
Override List Behaviors	X	NO	NO
Add Items	X	X	NO
Edit items	X	X	NO
Delete Items	X	X	NO
View Items	X	X	X
Approve Items	X	NO	NO
Open Items	X	X	X
View Versions	X	X	X
Delete Versions	X	X	NO
Create Alerts	X	X	X
View Applications Pages	X	X	X

Site

Permissions	Permission Levels
	Owners	Contribute	Read
Manage Permissions	X	NO	NO
View Web Analytics Data	X	NO	NO
Create Subsites	NO	NO	NO
Manage Web Site	X	NO	NO
Add and Customize Pages	X	NO	NO
Apply Themes and Borders	NO	NO	NO
Apply Style Sheets	NO	NO	NO
Create Groups	X	NO	NO
Browse Directories	X	X	NO
Use Self-Service Site Creation	X	X	X
View Pages	X	X	X
Enumerate Permissions	X	NO	NO
Browse User Information	X	X	X
Manage Alerts	X	NO	NO
Use Remote Interfaces	X	X	X
Use Client Integration Features	X	X	X
Open	X	X	X
Edit Personal User Information	X	X	NO

Personal

Permissions	Permission Levels
	Owners	Contribute	Read
Manage Personal Views	X	X	NO
Add/Remove Personal Web Parts	X	X	NO
Update Personal Web Parts	X	X	NO

I hope this blog was useful in understanding the basics of Permissions Groups, Permissions Levels and Permissions. Leave me comments or questions regarding permissions or other topics about SharePoint you wish to learn more about.