Working Copy (Check Out/In)

Lets say you have a published document and you need to update it extensively, but you want the old version to exist on the web site until you have published the new one. You also want the new document to replace the current one, but you'd like to keep the history of the old one. Working copy makes all this possible.

Essentially, you "check out" a version of the currently published document, which creates a "working copy" of the document. You then edit the working copy (for as long as you like) and when you're ready for the new version to go live, you "check in" the working copy, and it's live. Behind the scenes, the system will replace the original document with the new one in the exact same location and with the exact same web address — and archive the old version as part of the document's version history.

Using Check out

1. Navigate to the page you want to check out.
2. From the Actions drop-down menu, select Check out
   
   
   
3. Now you're free to edit the working copy of a published document. During this time, the original document is "locked" -- that is, no one else can edit that published version while you have a working copy checked out. This will prevent other changes from being made to (and subsequently lost from) the published version while you edit your copy.
   
    

Using Check In

1. Navigate to the working copy that you wish to publish
2. From the Actions drop-down menu, select Check in.
   
   
3. Enter a Check-in Message.  The check-in message is stored as a change note in the history.  In future, if you wish to revert your page to the unedited version, this will remind you which version contains the edits.
4. The working copy will now replace the published copy and become the new published copy. Also, the URL of the working copy will change to that of the original document so that links to the page are not broken.

Canceling a Check out

If you wish to cancel a check out, simply navigate to the working copy and select Cancel check-out from the actions drop-down menu. The working copy will be deleted and any changes made to the working copy will be lost.

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