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On the site that I administer we have a library of less than a dozen files, almost all of which are Excel spreadsheets. These are relatively complex sheets that track production data. Users are checking out the files only to receive an old version. The issue is that users are not aware they are updated now outdated data. Rarely they are presented with an error upon attempting to save and check in their newly updated document that says another user made changes that SharePoint is unable merge these changes. Any suggestions beyond clearing the Office File Cache?
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The issue is that they are clicking to check out and edit one version of the file, one with a certain set of data changes having being made by someone else, and the file that gets opened is one where the aforementioned data changes are not present. This is not a user error.
I already have done this.
Hi John,
The solution I give you is force user to check out when editing but not enable check out/in. By default it is turn off, you can turn on by following steps:
If you don't see these menu items, click Library on the ribbon, and then click
Library settings in the Settings group. 3. On the Settings page, under General Settings, click Versioning settings. 4. In the Require Check Out section, under Require documents to be checked out before they can be edited?, click Yes. 5. Click OK to save your settings and return to the Library Settings page.
If you plans to use co-authoring, we recommend 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 where everyone is co-authoring. This way, if you lose changes, you can restore a previous version of the document. See Enable and configure versioning for a list or library for more info.
Regards,
Eric
Hi John,
I have a suggestion for you and it will bring more limitation on editing files, you can compare with your need and choose apply it or mot.
You can Set up a library to require check-out of files so that when a user is editing a spreadsheet, the file will force to check out and the others can't edit the file until the user check in back. The advantage is users always know they are updating the latest data and solve co-working conflict. The disadvantage is users can't edit one files at same time, they will receive a message when another user are working on it.
In conclusion, if you don't need co-working feature in the library, you can set it.
Regards,
Eric
We already have enabled checking in/out of files.
Hi John,
I have a suggestion for you and it will bring more limitation on editing files, you can compare with your need and choose apply it or mot.
You can Set up a library to require check-out of files so that when a user is editing a spreadsheet, the file will force to check out and the others can't edit the file until the user check in back. The advantage is users always know they are updating the latest data and solve co-working conflict. The disadvantage is users can't edit one files at same time, they will receive a message when another user are working on it.
In conclusion, if you don't need co-working feature in the library, you can set it.
Regards,
Eric