Versions, Check Out, and Check In
About
Pages and other resources in your Commonwealth agency website can be reserved using the Check In and Check Out functions. This can potentially avoid conflicts of 2 or more people working on the same page and to also prevent a page from accidentally being published to a production site.
Versions
Pages (and some other resources in SharePoint) can keep track of the number of versions they have gone through. Each version has a unique corresponding number and can allow website administrators to track and--if necessary--restore changes to pages. Version numbers will display as a whole number followed by decimals (e.g., version 1.0, 2.5, 3.15, etc.)
Minor Version
A minor version for a page is created each time the page is saved. Minor versions will increase by 1 decimal point each time. The first time a page is saved, it creates version 0.1, the next time the same page is saved it will create version 0.2, and so on.
Major Version
A major version for a page is created each time a page is published. Major versions will increase by 1 whole number each time. The first time a page is published, it creates version 1.0, the next time the same page is published it will create version 2.0, and so on.
Check Out
Check Out will reserve a page so that only you can make and save changes. Other website administrators will be able to view the page, but will not see any of the changes made until you Check In the page.
A page that is checked out will have a yellow notification bar along the top of the page that indicates it is checked out and to whom.
Other users are generally not able to check out a page or make other changes. While you may be able to override a check out (i.e., unilaterally moving the check out from another user to yourself) this is not recommended. Instead, contact the website administrator to first confirm if they can check in the page.
How to find checked out pages and force a checkin (PDF)
Check In
Check In will return the page (along with any changes) so that others may view the updated page and Check Out the page as well. If you are editing a page, Check In will both save any changes, create a new minor version, and check in the page.
A page must be checked in order to Publish. If you are editing a page, you can Save, Check In, and Publish in one motion by clicking the Publish button in the ribbon. However, it is recommended that you first Check In the page, review your changes, then Publish.