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Status:
Closed
Can we have an option to lock files we're working on to avoid conflicted copies?
My business partner and I (often working from different locations) are constantly working on the same documents and trying to save our work at the same time. Result: lots of conflicted copies of files. I would love to have something in the Dropbox UI that allows us to see if another person is working on the file or has the file open. It would save us a lot of FLAME texting. We love each other but this is one thing that makes us want to kill each other.
- Mark
Super User II
That is coming - Project Carousel.
But it looks likely to be Dropbox for Busineess only.
I have to share images and pdfs with reps for our company and they end up deleting the files in the shared folder.
- Mark
You can set up preferences like that at www.dropbox.com/share by clicking on the 'Options' button for each share.
Or if they only need to view them why not use shared links? www.dropbox.com/help/167
Thank you for your quick reply! That does work for a main shared folder but it won't give me the options for the folder i need. I have a folder called Photos with several other folders inside. I want to be able to "lock" these folders. I've already shared the link to these folders so I didn't want to resend a new link if I don't have to.
- Mark
Ah, no, you cant lock parts of a folder I'm afraid. Its a one size fits all system
We need Dropbox to lock files once someone has them open, to prevent them being opened by another user, in order to prevent conflicted file errors.
This would be a nice feature indeed
That would be cool!
Or at least - I would appreciate the possibility to see, that someone else is working with the file.
It would be nice if I had the option to make a file read only for other users while I was editing it. An alternative, but definitely second choice, is that a notice could be given to anyone who opens the file that notifies them the file is being edited by someone else.
- Mark
It is already possible via the Dropbox Badge.
Is that a premium feature? Right now I am using the free version and don't see the feature.
- Mark
No, its available to all I believe although it is only being rolled out slowly.
Have a look at www.dropbox.com/help for info and make sure you have a recent build via www.dropbox.com/install
Hello Mark,
Can you tell us when the Check-out option will be coming? We urgently need it :)
- Mark
Its been out quite awhile now, look for the Dropbox Badge.
Note, however, it only works on Office documents and when both people are connected to the internet at the same time
- Rich
And it's not a true check out feature. It just shows you that someone else has the file open. It will not prevent someone from making changes to a file that someone else has open.
Okay so that's why I didn't find the check-out option :)
In my opinion this is not a check-out as check-out means that a file will be changed in read-only mode for other users.
I manage an online historic archive for a local historical society. We have many documents, pictures, etc., posted in a Dropbox account, and provide links for all who desire.
I'm concerned that one of us (me or one of the volunteers who has access to the account/collection) might someday inadvertently delete or change something. I would like a way to put a lock on the collection which prevents changes unless a person consciously unlocks it to make intended changes.
Does Dropbox have such a tool? If not, do you know of a way to do this through Windows or some add-on utility program?
- Mark
It doesnt I'm afraid.
The best thing I can suggest is to have a total separate backup of all data. That way software failure cannot become an issue!
Are there any plans in the works for a complete automatic file locking mechanism?
We are using AutoCAD products and would love to move completely to Dropbox, but not without automatic file locking between offices.
I.E.
User1 in Office A Opens DrawingOne
User2 in Office B attempts to open DrawingOne and but the properties on the file DrawingOne is set to locked so he gets notification from the file system and User2 can now only open the file with Readonly permissions
- RichDropbox doesn't discuss what features may or may not be in the works. We wouldn't know of such a feature until it was released or officially announced.
Personal opinion, they'll never do this. People have been asking for such a feature for years to avoid conflicted copies, and it has never happened. It's not as simple as locking a file that's in use because each person has their own separate copy of the file. Even in Office with the Dropbox badge, it won't prevent two people from editing the same file; it only notifies that someone else has it open.Thanks for the insight, Personally I do think it is quite possible to ensure 99.9% certainty.
Every time a File open occurs right now, Dropbox always checks to ensure that the file is the most up to date version before allowing it to be opened.
This means that as soon as that requiest is made and recieved at the Dropbox server, thier server code checks the properties on the file and retrieves the file version and compares it to the Users local copy. If they don't match then the reply to the query initiates the download of the delta (the differences between version), Once the delta download is complete, the local dropbox client writes the new sector to the old sector and updates the file system, then the program is allowed to open the file on the local computer for editing.
The Dropbox client then sends a broadcast on the local file system to let any other local dropbox clients know that it has the new version of the file for local network updates.
All of that is happening right now.
Since the server is already checking and comparing the file version on the server copy of the file, and the client is already checking the local file properties to get the version information, it is simply not communicating the file lock status.
There will be no collisions at the server in 99.9% of cases.
The only issue is
The only real issue comes from One individual working offline.
I think the answer to that is... you are working offline, expect a conflicted copy and having to merge (If it is an Office doc then that can be delit with through the badge merge).
Two individuals opening the same file within 1 or two seconds of each other will be the 0.01% of cases. There will almost always be an individual who won the locked case.
For that 0.01% of cases, the answer is equally straight forward though, after writing to the File Lock parameter, wait 0.1 seconds and then check the file lock again to make sure you own it and a state issue hasn't allowd another thread to over-write your lock or vise versa.
That take care of the state issues.
As for multiple server farms and the replication time, every company gets the option to set the preferred data farm location. That way any data synced to another region always has lower priority.
On the client side if a file lock is lost, a big notification appears as a final safeguard.
That is My 2 cents.
There seem to be a few good reasons this can't be detected automatically, but wouldn't a good workable compromise be to allow people manually "lock" and "unlock" a file? I would find that immensely useful.
- Mark
But again, as has been said, thats not easily doable.
Every file is personal and different. It is a totally and utterly different set up to the way a network works.
