You may find yourself wanting to provide more detailed control over the specific types of changes users can make in a doc. If you're on a Team plan or higher, you can do just that with to doc locking. This feature can prevent accidental changes and provide a cleaner experience for contributors who only need to make certain adjustments. Read on to learn all about this feature and how to get started.

Access the locking panel

To access the control panel for locking, click on the gear icon in the upper right corner of your doc to reveal the Doc settings panel. Then select Locking. The locking menu has three parts: This page, Default, and Unlocking.

Lock all pages in your doc

Let's start with the Default tab. Here's where you can determine the default behavior for all the pages across your doc. Not to worry, you can always customize behavior for each individual pages too - check out the section below to learn more.

For Default, you have three choices:

Full control: This option means that Editors and above will be able to take all actions inside your doc. This includes adding, deleting, and configuring objects like tables, views, buttons, and controls.
Interact only: Here, you can toggle on and off the various activities editors should be able to perform without needing the ability to unlock the doc. If you’re unsure what any one option means, just hover over the ? to see more info.
Read only: Users with read only permissions will not be able to make any changes to the doc or see the formulas or other table settings.

Let's explore the definitions of the Interact only options in a bit more detail:

Use buttons, controls, and forms: This allows users to press buttons both on the canvas and in tables, and to change control values on the canvas. It also allows users to submit data via any forms you have embedded in your doc.
Change table values: This includes changing the values of rows in tables and views. It also includes the ability to re-order rows.
Add rows: This allows users to add rows. It also allows them to modify or delete any rows they've added previously.
Delete rows: This permits users to delete any rows in any table or view.
Edit page text: This setting allows users to edit, add, and delete any and all text outside of tables and views.
Comment: These comments controls apply only to commenting from the toolbar. Users can always comment on table rows from the row detail view, unless comments are set to hidden in the detail view layout.

No matter what settings you select in Interact only, users will not be able to add, delete or configure objects like tables, views, buttons and controls. Those are only possible if Full Control is selected instead.

Lock only certain pages in your doc

You might have a page or two that needs special treatment. No problem - you also have access to a This page menu where you can give any page different settings from your default.

It’s important to note that any restrictions you apply to on the page level - via the This page tab - will take precedent over the setting you choose in the Default tab.

Doc admin settings

So let’s say you’ve restricted editing by adjusting the settings in This page or Default. By default, any user can still choose to temporarily unlock a page and override those settings.

To change this, you can go to the Unlocking tab of the Locking panel. Here, you can decide who should be considered Doc admins. Doc admins have the ability to temporarily unlock the doc for themselves - and therefore override the locking settings you’ve applied. The default setting for all docs is Anyone with edit access to your doc. But to change this, you can simply click on that dropdown and select Specific people. Then, you can choose which specific people you’d like to make doc admins. Note that only people with edit access to the doc will show up as options.

Once you assign specific doc admins here, other users will not be able to:

Unlock locked pages
Add, move, or delete pages
Configure Packs or automations
Change the doc's title or icon
Change the doc's timezone.

Unlock the doc

By default, everyone can see the unlock button icon on the right of the toolbar. But only those with permission to unlock the doc (see the section above) will be able to click the icon to unlock the doc.

Once you have clicked the lock and unlocked the doc, the page will stay unlocked until you navigate to another page, or click again to re-lock. It will remain locked for other users.

To restrict which users can unlock, refer back to the section above.

Doc locking security

It’s important to note that locking is not a security feature. While this feature removes the most direct way to make changes in a doc, anyone with Edit access to this doc can still make changes through other mechanisms, like our API. In more technical terms, Locking is currently a usability improvement enforced by the Coda client and is not enforced on Coda servers.

FAQs

What pricing plans have access to doc locking?

Only our Team and Enterprise plans have access to locking. You can read more about the different plan offerings here.

How can I remove all locking on my doc?

If you want to entirely and permanently remove all locking settings that you’ve added to your doc, you can do so in a few clicks. Find the gear icon in the upper right corner of your doc. Then select Locking. Then navigate to the three vertical dots in the upper right corner, click, and select Remove all locking.

If you just want to temporarily unlock a page, check out our Unlock the doc section above.

How can I prevent others from deleting pages in my doc?

By default, any Doc Maker with edit access to your doc can delete pages.

One way around this for those on Team plan or higher is to assign specific doc admins for your doc. Check out the Doc admin settings section in this article for details on this. Once you’ve assigned specific doc admins, other folks (even with edit access), will not be able to delete pages. Note that you don’t need to actually apply any locking to any pages for this to kick in - you just need to add doc admins.

Is doc locking preserved when you publish a doc?

Yes - any locking that you apply to pages in your docs should be reflected in both the unpublished and published versions of the doc.

The one thing to note is that canvas text is not editable in published docs (even if published in edit mode). So even if your page locking allows canvas text to be edited, it won’t be editable in the published doc.

Who can be added as a doc admin?

Only Doc Makers who have access to the doc can be added as doc admins. For a refresher on doc admins, check out the Doc admin settings section of this article.

Who can change the locking settings of a doc?

Only Doc Makers who are also doc admins will be able to alter any of the locking settings in the doc. Check out the Doc admin settings section of this article for more info on doc admins.

I’ve applied locking via both This page and Default. Which settings will take precedent over the other?

Any locking that has been applied to a specific page - via the This page panel - will take precedent over any Default locking.

Does locking affect doc performance?

No - locking doesn’t impact performance. It primarily helps provide a focused, clean viewing experience, along with reducing the probability of accidental edits.

If you're noticing doc performance issues, check out this article.