Locked documents in Pages

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Level 1

25 points

Locked documents in Pages

I opened several old Pages documents tonight in Lion. I was surprised to see that the title bar indicated that the document(s) were locked. Clicking on the word Locked I found I could unlock them. The documents were saved in Dropbox. I'm puzzled why they were marked locked. I don't recall locking them. Is this some sort of new default?

Why would the system lock files without my request for it to do so?

Overall, I like the idea of locking documents so avoid accidentally modifying files I didn't intend to modify. Is this a feature of Versions? If so, what are the things I should know about this feature. One of my major issues with Apple software is the lack of any overview of new features to make it easy to adopt the new version of the software and stay out of trouble with the changes. They should have people with a customer view of the world be writing things to explain the features of a product, the things to watch for, and maintain a FAQ as questions arise and get answered.

iMAC Early 2009, Mac OS X (10.6.7)

Posted on Aug 4, 2011 9:42 PM

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Answer 1

Aug 15, 2011 8:52 PM in response to bkitchin

I find that older files in iWork and also other applications are now locked. It does seem odd that Lion seems to do it without my action. This seems very un Mac-like for the system to start doing what it pleases with my files, and making me take extra unnecessary steps to be able to save them.

I find some new "features" in Lion, such as this one and the disappearance of "Save As", is very irritating.

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Answer 2

rkaufmann87

Level 10

140,532 points

Aug 15, 2011 8:59 PM in response to Tanzanite

You both are going through a learning curve, that's all. Save as has been replaced by Duplicate, once a document is duplicated and you want to save it simple save and it will ask what you want to name it and where you would like it placed.

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Answer 3

bkitchin Author

Level 1

25 points

Sep 7, 2011 9:13 PM in response to rkaufmann87

I find the lack of documentation and explanation quite irritating. These things are not 'intuitively obvious' to many of us. In fact, as the old joke goes, things called intuitively obvious almost never are.

Notice that I did not jump off the edge and label things as wrong, simply puzzling and looking for the rationale so I can decide how to make it work with my work flow.

As best as I can tell, this locking occurs when a file hasn't been worked on for some modest period of time and might therefore be considered as intended to be static rather than dynamic. The ease of unlocking it (click on the title bar the word locked) and the upfront labelling as locked make it more acceptable to me. However, I'm absolutely sure that others will not agree with me.

One of the biggest difficulties with Lion is the large degree to which Apple yanked the entire workflow and paradigm around without giving us a guide or explanation of much of it. In many cases, if I think of my computer as a tablet I can get much of it. However, I didn't buy an expensive iMac to be a big tablet.

What I hope is that the extreme degree Apple yanked things around won't cause the experts in scripting and such to re-invent Pre Lion Max OS X and we end up with two flavors of Mac. When that happens the users lose out.

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Answer 4

rkaufmann87

Level 10

140,532 points

Sep 7, 2011 9:24 PM in response to bkitchin

There are lots of tutorials online, you can always use Google to look for one. For example if you need a Pages Tutorial just Google "Pages Tutorial" and will find links directly to them. For example:

http://www.apple.com/iwork/tutorials/#pages-hero

was the top hit when I typed in Pages Tutorial.

Also if you aren't comfortable with Lion and can't figure out something, once again Google it or go to a book store and get a OS X Lion book to use as refrence material.

To lock or unlock a file is fairly simple once you know where to look which I can understand wasn't super intuitive, however again if you'd Google it you would have found it in seconds. Look at the example below for where to lock or unlock a document:

Things aren't tough to figure out if you get stumped, just Google it and you can usually find some solution.

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Answer 5

Oct 3, 2011 10:18 AM in response to rkaufmann87

I think you may be missing bkitchin's point. When I use a program for several years and things change, I want an explanation or at least some sort of notification - in the software. Saying you should either intuitively know how to do it and if you don't, go look it up seems to reek of arrogance and poor service.

I could understand if Pages itself was upgraded, but it wasn't.

Here is a tip - click command and spacebar - oh wait it is intuitive. Look up empathy in spotlight. Utilize it when interacting with people who are obviously looking for help - which means we are usually frustrated. Being told you are going through a learning curve is not what a frustrated person wants to hear.

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Answer 6

rkaufmann87

Level 10

140,532 points

Oct 3, 2011 12:44 PM in response to Highcroft

Highcroft,

You have not posted a question or a solution only your own comments and opions. Had your read my all of my posts carefully you would has seen they were complete with answers to questions and solid reliable information.

I'm not interested in arguing with you however I would ask that you read the Terms of Use of this forum, specifically the point about staying on topic.

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Answer 7

Oct 6, 2011 7:51 AM in response to rkaufmann87

A classic, not what you said but the way you said it.

After using Pages again yesterday and being frustrated by the changes that are a step backwards in functionality for me, my solution is simple. I removed Pages.

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Answer 8

rkaufmann87

Level 10

140,532 points

Oct 6, 2011 7:57 AM in response to Highcroft

OK and I hope you find a solution perhaps MS Office for Mac.

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Answer 9

bkitchin Author

Level 1

25 points

Oct 9, 2011 10:03 PM in response to rkaufmann87

Actually Highcroft made one point I was aiming at more clearly than I did. There are a lot of things I could find out (and I do) using Google. I also use the help files in applictions but am often disappointed in them.

The point which Highcroft made is that I've used iWork for three years. It would be real useful is someone at Apple would make a list of the things which are changed. Some like Locked stop you dead in your tracks and you need to search for an answer. Others however, you may miss and assume it is acting as always but it acts differently.

For decades there have been change documents which point out what is changing and giving you a caution to look before you go on as you always have. The information presented in the WWDC or other Apple marketing presentations are just that Marketing oriented. There is a lot of whiz bang show of new things that are impressive. But when it comes down to why the new release is of any use to me, it is hard to say.

As far as the point of this forum, I have one substantial question on this subject, has Apple or anyone else written a clear and reasonably complete description of what has changed in moving to Lion?

I gather the answer is NO as usual. I do appreciate your putting in some concrete examples of help available by Google on such subjects. In this I find this forum is more helpful than Apple tends to be. For that I thank off of you who like Rkaufmann87 contribute in this way.

Bruce

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Answer 10

rkaufmann87

Level 10

140,532 points

Oct 9, 2011 10:26 PM in response to bkitchin

Your welcome.

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Answer 11

Oct 17, 2011 6:19 PM in response to rkaufmann87

Thanks for the image, it answered my question. Didn't realize I could mouse over and get the dropdown menu. That saves a step.

I think the changes to Pages and iWork are part of the Versions feature that came with Lion.

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Answer 12

rkaufmann87

Level 10

140,532 points

Oct 17, 2011 6:21 PM in response to Peter Thomson

Your welcome and yes you are correct about the versions feature in iWork. I've found it pretty handy myself.

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Answer 13

Oct 17, 2011 10:20 PM in response to rkaufmann87

I remember Versions being announced when they introduced Lion, but forgot about it. Now that I know how to use it, looking forward to the feature.

Not that this is the place for making requests, but do have to say that I wish Pages and iCloud on my Mac worked more like Dropbox in terms of syncing. I saw someone posted a work around, but hope that kind of syncing shows up soon. But again, that's a request I'll make to Apple.

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Answer 14

rkaufmann87

Level 10

140,532 points

Oct 18, 2011 6:29 AM in response to Peter Thomson

Not that this is the place for making requests, but do have to say that I wish Pages and iCloud on my Mac worked more like Dropbox in terms of syncing. I saw someone posted a work around, but hope that kind of syncing shows up soon. But again, that's a request I'll make to Apple.

Fair enough, if you aren't aware there is a web site for that. It's www.apple.com/feedback.

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Answer 15

Apr 5, 2012 4:39 AM in response to bkitchin

I agree with bkitchin: I've been extremely frustrated with the ways Lion treats me like a kid. I've bought a new MacBook just so I can try things out before stepping off Snow Leopard and into the Lion fire. I've been trying to transition since September, and have not succeeded. But back to the problem at hand: I found:

Files are also locked after two weeks to prevent inadvertent changes introduced while opening and reading a document from being unnecessarily saved.

Well, great, how do I change that limit from two weeks to infinity? I have a number of spreadsheets that I use once a month.

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