Object locking lets admins and authorized users prevent other users from editing specific engagement elements, including sheets, columns, documents, and reports. This can be useful during a review handoff or after a final sign-off.
Locking an object makes it view-only for other users until someone with permission unlocks it.
Users can still perform these interactions on locked objects, where applicable:
Comments
Sign-offs
Tasks
Downloading and exporting
Copying a link
Including or excluding from roll forward
Managing client access
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Before you begin
Firm admins can lock and unlock any engagement object.
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 objects. They can still view locked objects shared with them.
Admin templates, company-level files, forms, and requests can't be locked.
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Lock or unlock a document
Locking a document puts it in view-only mode, and also prevents users from doing the following:
Uploading a new version
Renaming, deleting, or copying the document
Adding PDF annotations or converting to PDF
Generating (for reports)
Enabling Fieldguide Connect
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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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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A locked document shows a lock icon in the documents list.
Lock or unlock a report
Reports and report templates inside an engagement can be locked the same way as documents.
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Lock or unlock a sheet
Locking a sheet makes all of its cells view-only. Where you lock a sheet depends on the sheet type:
Engagement sheets: Open the vertical ellipses menu on the sheet tab and select Lock Sheet (or Unlock Sheet).
Document sheets: Follow the instructions for locking documents. Or, use the Lock/Unlock icon inside the sheet.
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A locked engagement sheet shows a lock icon on the sheet tab.
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.
Unlocking a sheet doesn't unlock columns you locked separately.
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Lock or unlock a column
Locking a column makes all of it view-only and prevents users from performing these actions:
Editing any cell in the column, including typing, pasting, and clearing cell contents
Editing the column, including its name and column settings
Adding AI actions to the column
Deleting the column
Sorting by the column
You can lock these column types:
Standard columns: Text, list, number, formula, and shared columns
Reference columns: Key Reference and Document Reference columns
The Lock column option isn't available for the primary Key column or for magic columns.
To lock or unlock a column, follow these steps:
Open the vertical ellipses menu from the column header.
Select Lock column (or Unlock column).
A locked column shows a lock icon in its header.
Shared columns
When you lock a column that has been shared to other sheets, the lock applies to every engagement where the column appears. Unlocking the column removes the lock everywhere the same way.
View lock details
Hover over the lock icon to see who locked the item and when. Client users can also see the lock icon on items shared with them.
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Archiving and rollover
Archiving: Archiving an engagement makes the entire engagement view-only. This is separate from locking. Archiving does not change lock states, and locking is not required before archiving. See Engagement archiving.
Rollover: Lock states do not carry over by default when an engagement is rolled over. Only column locks can be rolled over. Sheets and documents will start unlocked in the new engagement. See Engagement rollover.
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