Microsoft Sharepoint Products and Technologies Resource Kit eBook

Chapter 19: Working with Documents in SharePoint Products and Technologies 545
2. Click Delete Previous Versions.
3. When prompted to confirm that you want to delete all previous versions
of the file, click OK.
About Checking Documents In and Out
Checking documents in and out allows users to obtain exclusive write access to a
document, eliminating the need to merge changes from multiple authors. When a
user checks a document out, he is the only user who can save changes to the document.
The document is flagged as if it’s in a long-term check-out status. This is also
known as an explicit check-out or file lock. Other users can read the document, but
they cannot make changes. The user who has the document checked out can
update the document and see the latest version of the document, but other users will
not see the updates until the document has been checked back in. When the document
is checked in, you can provide comments on the amendments to or purpose
for this version of the document. Members of the Administrator, Content Managers,
and Web Designer site groups (or members of any site group with the Cancel Checkout
right) for a site can override a document check-out if necessary and force the
document to be checked in with the previous version.
To force a document to be checked in, you use the same command as the user
would use to check in a document normally.
To cancel a check-out and return to the previous version
If you check out a document but then decide you don’t want to check in the
changes you made, you can undo the check-out as follows:
1. Navigate to the document, click the down arrow next to the document’s title,
and then click Check In.
2. On the Check In page, select Discard changes and undo check out and then
click OK.
3. On the confirmation message that appears, click OK to check in the document.
Editing Documents in the Document Library
To edit a document, you do not have to explicitly check out the document. Navigate
to the document library, and click on the name of the file. If the file extension is
bound to an application, such as Microsoft Word, the file will open in read-only
mode. This will also be the case if the document is checked out to you. If you look
at the Office application title bar, you’ll see (read-only) after the filename. The File
drop-down menu will not have the options to check the document in or out. However,
when Microsoft Word 2003 opens the document, it automatically sets a shortterm
lock on the file to prevent other users from editing the open file. This is also