What does it mean to "check out" a file. What happens when you do this?
Hi Evan,
Check Out essentially means that the file will be locked and no-one will be able to override your file. Typically when you are working on a file that multiple people have edit permissions on, you may wish to check the file out to prevent any changes being made from other people.
In the next day or two, this functionality will actually change. To keep this inline with our new Web Folders features, we will be migrating the Check Out function to Locks.
Locks will work much the same way though they will be more integrated with the permissions system (currently a check out only prevents other users from uploading a new version or overwriting an existing file). The new Locks feature will actually prevent other members (that do not have Manage permissions on an item) from editing/deleting the file (and any of its file versions) in addition to the prevention of creating new file versions or overwriting the file.
Locks will also integrate directly with Web Folders - when someone edits a file using Web Folders, any locks that are created by the WebDAV client will automatically apply to the items within the standard web interface and vice-versa.
Kind regards,
Michael
Sosius Customer Service