Can I open a Pro .aprx in Read Only mode?

[Anonymous User]

Hello all!

I have a need to QC my technician's work from time to time. I need a way to open her .aprx in Read-Only mode so she can still open it and save changes. I don't want to open it and have the edit copy (without knowing it) and then she opens it later and has the read-only copy (without knowing it since there is no notification - just after you make hours of edits when you go to save it, it says you Can't Save this.)

Is there a way to do this or an existing Idea page already? I can start one if not. It would be nice if there was a Pro notification saying this file was already open somewhere right when you open it also. I don't like surprises. 

Thank you,

Andrea

[Robert_LeClair]

Andrea - I don't see a way to do this in the core ArcGIS Pro application.  I perused the ArcGIS Pro SDK thinking there might be a workflow in there that would change the default behavior of the first person to open a project file (*.aprx) from read/write to read-only mode.  Didn't see anything there.  My suggestion is to create an ArcGIS Idea so it gets visibility with the developers.

[wayfaringrob]

So, I don't know if it's a feature or a bug, but if you have a project in [read only] and the person with the edit copy closes it, your instance stays read only. I have an idea here that addresses that, but in the meantime, you may be able to manipulate that to your advantage. If you open the same project twice, the second copy should open in read-only and you could then close the first. What happens when she goes to open it, I'm not sure, but I'd test that out.

[wayfaringrob]

I also located an idea related to actually notifying users that they are in read-only, which would address your other point, but has been open for 10 years without any updates.

Create MXD "lock" file or read-only notification - Esri Community

[JohnWatt · Accepted solution]

Hi Andrea.  You could temporarily set the 'Read-only' file attribute of the .aprx in file explorer.  Right-click the file and choose Properties - Read-only is a tick box at the bottom.  Pro gives a [Read-only] notification on the title-bar if you do this, but you'll need to remember to untick afterwards so your tech can open and save changes to the document.  'Save' is greyed out, but not 'Save as'.

If it's local data you want to lock - this might also work but probably not recommended.  An aprx is a window through to data so locking one wont necessarily lock the other. 

[wayfaringrob]

neat! I was hoping that copy > paste shortcut and setting the shortcut to read only would also do it, but this does not work. I guess 'read only' only refers to the shortcut, not the file it points to.

[Anonymous User]

Wow! That actually works! Thank you!

It still would be nice if there was a way to do this within ArcGIS Pro.

Thanks again.