How to Implement File Locking

File locking is a feature which can be implemented on your site(s) to support locking of write access for a single user. This feature ensures that only one user can edit an asset at a time. 


Currently only articles support the lock feature but other content types are on the roadmap.

How file locking works

Before implementing this feature on your site, it is important to understand how this feature works.


An article will become locked:

  • When a user is actively editing an article. For example, when a user accesses a specific article in Continuum, the file will not be immediately locked. When the user makes an edit to the file, the file will then be locked.


An article will remained locked:

  • Until the user clicks on the Unlock icon on the editor
  • Note: This includes the case in which a user may leave the article open with unsaved changes for an extended period of time.


An article will be unlocked:

  • When the user saves their changes.
  • When the file has been locked for 24 hours. Our system will automatically unlock the file without saving any changes.
  • When a user with admin permissions uses override privileges to unlock the file. Note: Unlocking the file as an administrator will not save any changes the editor made.



A locked file is easily identifiable by the yellow banner appearing on the page in Continuum:

Continuum table views also show when a file is currently locked:

How to configure file locking on your site

To implement file locking on your site, set the system setting lock.service.enabled to true and Clear Site Cache.