---
source_url: "https://help.dropbox.com/organize/file-locking"
title: How to Lock or Unlock a Dropbox File - Dropbox Help
mirrored_at: 2026-08-24T03:02:44.782Z
host: help.dropbox.com
cited_in_42a: true
mirror_canonical: "https://index.42a.ai/help.dropbox.com/organize/file-locking"
---

> **Original source:** https://help.dropbox.com/organize/file-locking

-   [Dropbox Help Center - How to use Dropbox](https://help.dropbox.com/) 
-   [Organize](https://help.dropbox.com/organize) 
-   How to lock or unlock a Dropbox file 

## In this article

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This feature is available for customers on Dropbox Professional, Education, Essentials, Standard, Business, Advanced, Business Plus, and Enterprise.

  
File locking is a feature that prevents a file from being edited. This allows teams and collaborators to coordinate who is editing a file and avoid [conflicted copies](https://help.dropbox.com/organize/conflicted-copy).

## What happens when you lock a file?

If a file is locked, those who have access to the file will still be able to view, comment on, and share a link to the file. A person with an edit-link to a locked file won’t be able to edit the file. If they try, they’ll see a prompt to reach out to the person who locked the file. Only the person who locked the file or a team admin can unlock files.

**Note**: Only shared files, or files within shared folders, can be locked.

1.  [Log in](https://www.dropbox.com/login) to dropbox.com.
2.  Click **All files** in the left sidebar.
3.  Hover over the name of the file and click ☑ (more options) on the right.
4.  Click **Activity**.
5.  Click **Lock editing** or **Unlock Editing**.

1.  Open the [Dropbox folder](https://help.dropbox.com/installs/locate-dropbox-folder) on your computer.
2.  Right-click the file you’d like to lock or unlock.
3.  Click **Lock Editing** or **Unlock Editing**.

## How to edit a locked file  

If you need to edit a locked file, you can request that the file be unlocked by clicking **Ask to Unlock** in the window that appears when you attempt to open the file. Or, you can make a copy of the locked file—however, any changes made to the copy won’t be reflected in the original file when it’s unlocked.

## Admins: Unlock a team member’s file

[Team admins](https://help.dropbox.com/security/change-admin-rights) can unlock a team member's file. To do so:

1.  [Log in](https://www.dropbox.com/login) to dropbox.com with your admin credentials.
2.  Click **Admin console** in the left sidebar.
3.  Click the dropdown to the left of **Dropbox**, under **Products**.
4.  Click **Content**.
5.  Click **Locked files**.
6.  Click ☑ (more options) on the right of the file you’d like to unlock.
    -   To unlock multiple files at once, check the checkbox next to each file you’d like to unlock.
7.  Click **Unlock Files**. 
8.  Select whether you’d like to notify the user who originally locked the file.
    -   By default, the user who originally locked the file will receive an email notification that their file has been unlocked.
    -   If you don’t want to notify the original user who locked the file, uncheck the checkbox next to **Let \[user who locked file\] know you’ve unlocked editing**.
9.  Click **Unlock editing**.

## Admins: Disable file locking

[Team admins](https://help.dropbox.com/security/change-admin-rights) can turn off file locking for their team.

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**Note**: Files that were locked before the file locking feature is disabled will remain locked. 

To disable file locking:

1.  [Log in](https://www.dropbox.com/login) to dropbox.com with your admin credentials.
2.  Click **Admin** console in the left sidebar.
3.  Click the dropdown to the left of **Dropbox**, under **Products**.
4.  Click **Settings**.
5.  Click the **Content** tab.
6.  Under **Content tools**, toggle **File locking** to **Off**.
7.  Click **Save**.

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