5. Lock, save, unlock · How to use this site

5 Lock, save, unlock

The treatment roster opens read-only. Taking the lock is what opens it for editing, and while you hold it nobody else can edit that centre's sheet.

This exists because the whole sheet is saved in one go. Without it, two people editing the same centre would each save over the other, and the first one's afternoon would be gone with nothing on screen to say it ever happened.

The order of work

Press 🔒 Lock to edit, at the top of the page next to Save. The cells become editable.
Make your changes. The Save button wakes up and counts what is outstanding.
Press Save. The line beside it becomes Last saved … with the time.
Press 🔒 Unlock when you have finished, so the next person can take the sheet.

Before: the sheet is free and read-only. Lock to edit is the way in. — Before: the sheet is free and read-only. **Lock to edit** is the way in.

While you hold it: Locked by … (you) and the time you took it, with Save and Unlock beside it. — While you hold it: **Locked by … (you)** and the time you took it, with Save and Unlock beside it.

Remember to unlock. A lock lasts until you let it go — there is no timer, and nothing unlocks it for you. Nobody else can edit that centre's roster while your name is on it, and closing the tab does not let it go, because the lock belongs to your account rather than to the browser. If you closed the page with it still locked, open it again and press Unlock.

How long a lock lasts

As long as you hold it. Take your time: a sheet locked at nine is still yours at four, unsaved or not.
It ends only when you press Unlock — or when the developer breaks the lock on a sheet somebody walked away from. If that happens while your page is open, it says The lock is no longer yours and reloads.
Leaving the page with it locked is allowed, and the browser asks once on the way out. Come back and press Unlock when you are done.

When somebody else holds it

The line at the top reads Locked by their name, with the time they took it, and there is no Lock button to press. Ask them to press Unlock — the sheet will not free itself — and if they have gone for the day, ask the developer to break the lock.

Pressing Unlock with changes you have not saved will throw them away. The page asks first — if that question appears and you did not expect it, cancel, press Save, and then unlock.