Reserving files and documents

Marking an uploaded file or a document as Reserved indicates that someone is currently editing it so that other users shouldn't edit it until the Reserved badge is removed. It does not actually lock the file or document.

The Reserved badge provides important information about file status for anyone who can't use Jive for Office to edit and merge uploaded files, for example, Mac users. It can also be used to warn users of a published Jive native document that's not ready to be edited by other people yet. The Reserved badge doesn't prevent anyone else from editing, but it shows information about who is working with the item, making it easy for other people to check in with you before adding their own edits. Note that if you want to hide an in-progress Jive document before publishing it, you can just save it as a draft and share it with anyone you want to.

When an author or editor marks a file as Reserved, anyone can see who reserved the file and contact the person if they're unsure whether it's OK to proceed with editing. Anyone with the rights to edit a file or document also has rights to mark it as Reserved. When someone reserves a file, the author and anyone who has already edited the document receive an Inbox notification. You can filter content to find reserved documents, too.

Differences in reserving Jive documents and uploaded files

Jive native documents

Jive already provide an indicator when someone has started editing a document. (However, note that the lock on the document while someone is editing only lasts ten minutes, and after that, it's possible to edit the document and overwrite another user's changes.) Mark as Reserved replaces the need to put "WIP" or another indicator in the title when a document isn't in a state where you'd like other users to contribute. It shows an author or editor's intention to keep working on the document undisturbed until the next time that the author publishes it.

Uploaded documents

Mark as Reserved warns users who don't use Jive for Office that publishing a new version could overwrite and invalidate a version someone is working on locally. (Windows users with Jive for Office have live merge capability and may not need this feature as much.) Marking a file as Reserved does not lock the document or prevent uploading another version. But any other user who clicks Edit with the intention of uploading a new file can see a message pointing out that the file is currently reserved for editing.