Document locking lets authorized firm users lock individual engagement files, reports, and sheets so they can't be edited — for example, during a review handoff or after a final sign-off. A locked item is read-only for all users until someone with the Document and Sheet Locking permission unlocks it.
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Locking is independent of sign-offs: you can lock an item at any point in the review lifecycle, and locking does not add, remove, or require a sign-off.
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Before you begin
Firm admins can lock and unlock any engagement document.
Other firm users can lock and unlock only if their engagement role includes the Document and Sheet Locking permission, which firm admins grant in the engagement's permission group settings. See Custom engagement permissions for firm users.
Client users cannot lock or unlock items. They can still view locked items shared with them.
You can lock engagement files (PDF, Word, and Excel), reports and report templates, and sheets. Templates, company-level files, forms, and requests can't be locked.
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Lock or unlock a document
To lock or unlock a single document, follow these steps:
Open the Documents tab of the engagement.
Right-click the document and select Lock (or Unlock). You can also use the Lock/Unlock action in the document preview toolbar.
If someone is actively editing the document in Office Online when you lock it, their session becomes view-only.
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Lock or unlock multiple documents
To lock or unlock several documents at once, follow these steps:
Open the Documents tab of the engagement.
Select the documents you want to lock or unlock.
Select Lock (or Unlock) in the toolbar.
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Lock or unlock a report
Reports and report templates can be locked the same way as documents. Locked reports open in view-only mode.
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Lock or unlock a sheet
Where you lock a sheet depends on the sheet type:
Engagement sheets: Open the three-dot menu on the sheet tab and select Lock (or Unlock).
Document sheets: Use the Lock/Unlock icon in the sheet viewer, similar to the document preview toolbar.
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Locking a sheet makes all of its cells read-only. Sheet locking has a few behaviors to be aware of:
Locked sheets open in the New Sheets experience, regardless of your default setting.
When you lock a sheet, you can choose whether to also lock the documents attached to it. If a locked sheet has attached documents that are unlocked, an alert icon appears on the sheet tab. Hover over the icon to see the number of files on this sheet that are still unlocked.
Documents nested below a sheet's attached documents are not locked with the sheet.
Unlocking a sheet does not unlock its attached documents — unlock those individually.
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What happens when an item is locked
Hover over the icon to see who locked the item and when.
A locked document shows a lock icon in the documents list.
A locked engagement sheet shows a lock icon on the sheet tab.
Client users can also see the lock icon on items shared with them.
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Not available on a locked item:
Editing content: PDF annotations are disabled, Word and Excel files open in view-only mode, and sheet cells can't be edited
Uploading a new version
Renaming, deleting, copying, or converting to PDF
Generating (for reports) and enabling FG Connect
Still available on a locked item:
Comments
Sign-offs
Tasks
Downloading
Copying a link
Including or excluding from roll forward
Managing client access
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Locking, archiving, and rollover
Locking works alongside Fieldguide's other read-only mechanisms:
Archiving: Archiving an engagement makes the entire engagement read-only. This is separate from document locking — archiving does not change lock states, and locking is not required before archiving. See Engagement archiving.
Rollover: Lock states do not carry over when an engagement is rolled over. Files in the new engagement start unlocked. See Engagement rollover.
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