Data Management > Workspace > Object Operations in the Workspace > Checking Out Objects > Downloading Objects > About Read-Only Downloads
  
About Read-Only Downloads
When you open objects from the shared cabinets, the objects open with read-only status. Objects with this status must only be used for reference. In a change control environment, a read-only object cannot be modified although in a less restrictive environment you can download and modify read-only objects. However, regardless of the environment, you cannot commit modified read-only objects to Windchill unless you first check them out.
The Creo application prompts you to check out an object when you attempt to explicitly modify the object. When downloaded objects are modified during regeneration, the Creo application does not automatically prompt you to check out the object. Instead it verifies the value to which the regenerate_read_only_objectsconfig.pro option is set to determine whether read-only objects can be implicitly modified. Implicit downstream changes occur only when regenerate_read_only_objects is set to yes.