Unlocking and locking pages
Unlocking pages and components
Pages and components in Sitecore are 'locked' from any changes until they are unlocked by an editor.
If another user is editing an item, you will be unable to unlock it. This system of locking and unlocking prevents more than one person trying to edit the item at once.
You can unlock pages and/or components in both Content Editor and Experience Editor view if you need to edit them.
Unlocking pages
1) To unlock a page you need to first navigate to the item in Sitecore.
2) Then look for the top yellow 'unlock page' banner and click on 'Lock and Edit'. In Content Editor this is found on the right-hand side towards the top, under the 'Content' tab. In Experience Editor it will appear at the top below the main menu.
Unlocking components
In Experience Editor, to unlock and edit a component you simply click on it and start editing (once the page you are working on is open and unlocked).
In Content Editor, follow the same instructions as above, but navigate directly to your chosen component instead of the page and unlock it.
This means that In Content Editor view you can edit and even publish changes to components without having to unlock pages (unlike Experience Editor), which can be helpful, however often it is difficult to find the relevant component in the left-hand menu. If you can't find the component, try using Experience Editor instead.
The 'Edit' button
Alternatively, in both views you can use the 'Edit' button on the top menu to unlock an item and begin editing (found under the 'Review' tab on Content Editor or under the 'Home' tab on Experience Editor):
Page locked warning message
If the page has been locked by someone else the yellow 'unlock page' banner will still be there but the messaging will be replaced with a warning that the page is locked to another user.
In this instance you can either wait until the person is finished with their work or contact them to ask them to unlock the page. If your changes are urgent and the person is unavailable then will need to contact the Web Editors at webeditors@uwe.ac.uk.
Locking and checking in pages
If you are finished working on an item, you will normally save and submit it for approval and publishing.
Once published, the item will no longer be locked to your name and other users will be able to access it again.
Checking in items
If you unlocked an item but you didn't make any changes, it's a good idea to 'check in' the item so that it doesn't stay locked to you forever. This process allows others to access the page or component again for editing.
The 'check in' button is found under the 'Review' tab on the top menu in Content Editor. Alternatively you can use the 'Unlock' button under the 'Home' tab on the top menu in Experience Editor.
My items and unlock all
If you are making a lot of changes on Sitecore, sometimes you will find lots of items become locked to you, even if you didn't amend them, since you are unlocking and opening lots of pages. Sometimes you may even lose track of which pages and components you unlocked. No need to worry, there is a way to check which ones are locked to your name using the 'my items' feature.
My items
On the top menu in Content Editor look for the 'My items' button under the 'Review' tab:
Clicking this opens up a list of everything locked to your account on Sitecore. Here you can select items to unlock or make a note of which ones you need to finish editing and submit.
Unlock all
When you have completed and submitted all your changes and you have no items left to finish editing, there is a quick way to unlock anything in the 'my items' list which is still locked to you - the 'unlock all' function. This is especially useful if you are going on annual leave or you won't be using Sitecore for a long time.
Be patient when using this button because it can take a long time for the page to load once you've clicked on it. If you get an error massage from your browser, choose to wait and keep loading the page, eventually it will clear the list. It can take several minutes if there are a lot of items locked to your account.