PDM: Checking in files that are on another machine or checked out by another user

This article was written for users or admins who do not have access the the source computer or user who currently has a file checked out.

There are many reasons why you may need to check in a file from a different machine/user. If the machine has crashed, user is no longer with the company or on vacation, or even if important files were on a machine that was taken for a business trip.

There are a few options for getting the files back into the vault for other users to check out and edit based on the situation:

If you have access to the computer but not the user:

The Administrator of the PDM Vault has the ability to check in a file that was checked out by another user. This would be the recommended option if possible as it will preserve any changes made by the user.

Alternatively, the Administrator can change the user's password, allowing them to log in as the user on their machine in the case they are not available.

If you do not have access to the computer:

The Administrator of the PDM vault, along with any user with the proper Administrative Permissions has the ability to check in files that are checked out by other users. Right click on the file in the vault and select Undo Check Out. This will revert the file version to the last version that was checked into the vault, losing any local changes made by the user.

The Permission needed for users to undo check out can be granted in the Administrator tool under the user/group. This is a new permission added in 2018 so it will not be accessible in earlier versions

If you do not have access to the computer, but have access to the file set:

If you have access to the file set but not the computer (Crashed machine but the Hard Drive was recovered or user provided files without access to Vault), there are some workarounds to place the newest version into the vault.

The workflow that we recommend:

• Have the newest version of the file saved locally outside of the vault.
• Perform the action to undo the checkout by a user with the correct permissions.
• Check out the file again, then place the local version into the vault and overwrite file.
• Open the file to ensure references are correct and make any fixes as necessary
• Check in the newer version of the file.

If you have any further questions regarding this topic, please contact Hawk Ridge Systems technical support at 877.266.4469 (US) or 866.587.6803 (Canada) or email us at support@hawkridgesys.com