Document locking lets you protect a document so that only specific users or groups can make important changes to that document.

Specifically, locking a document prevents others from changing particular fields of that document. Normally, those fields are the significant fields for that document type; however, the administrator can configure the system to lock additional fields. The full set of fields that are affected by locking are called lockable fields. These fields can be on either the document root or the content nodes.

You can lock a document as either an individual user or as a group. When a document is locked by an individual user, only that user can edit the lockable fields of that document. When a document is locked by a group, only members of that group can edit those fields.

Normally, when a document is not locked, any user can edit the lockable fields of that document. However, the administrator can configure Integrity Lifecycle Manager to require users to lock a document before they edit the lockable fields of that document. When such a requirement is in place, no one can edit the lockable fields of an unlocked document.