Beginning with v2.21, Box Drive supports the ability to lock (or) unlock files when user opens (or) closes the document. Admins can enable this feature for their end users to help improve the collaboration experience for Box files when accessed by the user on their desktop.
Background
Box Drive currently provides the option to lock a file to ensure other users are not able to edit the document at the same time. To lock the file, right click it and select the lock option before you open the file. If you don't lock a file, there may be conflicting copies of files created when multiple users try to save document at the same time. See File Version Conflicts for details on how Box resolves conflicts such as these.
Enhanced lock/unlock experience
On Box Drive v2.21 and above, admins can enable the enhanced lock/unlock feature for their users. There are 2 configurations the admins can set - Automatic or Prompted locking.
- Automatic Locking (AutoLockUnlock=1) - The file will automatically be locked/unlocked when the user opens/closes the file.
- Prompted Locking (AutoLockUnlock=0) - When the user opens the file, they will receive a prompt asking if they want to lock the file. When the user closes the file it will automatically be unlocked.
Enabling the enhanced lock/unlock feature
Automatic locking option:
- Create a new DWORD (32-bit) value (REG_DWORD) using the Registry Editor tool under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Box\Box called AutoLockUnlock.
- Set the value of AutoLockUnlock to 1.
- Restart Box Drive.
Prompted locking option:
- Create a new DWORD (32-bit) value (REG_DWORD) using the Registry Editor tool under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Box\Box called AutoLockUnlock.
- Set the value of AutoLockUnlock to 0.
- Restart Box Drive.
Disabling the enhanced lock/unlock feature
- Delete the AutoLockUnlock registry value from HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Box\Box.
- Restart Box Drive.
Support - Enhanced lock/unlock is supported only for the following:
-
- Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint 2010 and above.
- Windows 10 (64-bit) and above.
- Collaborated folders
Offline behavior
- Box Drive does NOT support enhanced lock/unlock experience when the user is offline. Opening a file when offline will not automatically lock or prompt the user to lock the file. Similarly, closing a file when offline will not unlock it.
Auto-lock behavior
- Using Box for Microsoft Office coauthoring with Enhanced lock/unlock on Box Drive disables auto-lock as the presence of a Box lock prevents coauthoring from starting.
Known limitations
- Drive will not be able to detect that file opens and closes when the Office application is opened with admin privileges. This is a system limitation without a workaround.
- Users who have enabled Preview pane on Windows File Explorer will not receive the unlock prompt if Explorer is trying to fetch the preview for the file (when the file is selected when File Explorer is in focus).
User Experience
The below table lists the experiences for the different configurations for enhanced lock/unlock when accessing files on the Box Drive folder:
| Flow | Prompted Option | Automatic Option |
|
Lock a collaborated file When a user opens an unlocked Word/Excel/PowerPoint file |
User is prompted to lock the file. This prompt will also be displayed when a user saves a file to Box using Save As. Note: |
File is automatically locked. The file is also locked when a user saves a file to Box using Save As.
|
|
Unlock a file When a user closes a locked Word/Excel/PowerPoint file that they locked |
File is automatically unlocked Note: |
File is automatically unlocked Note: |
|
File locked by a collaborator When users open a locked Word/Excel/PowerPoint file. |
User is notified that the file is locked by a collaborator, and the file will open in read-only mode. |
User is notified that the file is locked by a collaborator, and the file will open in read-only mode. |