chesterdocs

#Edit without overwriting each other

Only one person can edit a process at a time, and the lock frees itself when that person saves, discards, closes the tab or stops working.

#Take the process for editing

Click Edit on a process. From that moment the process is yours to change: the diagram, its documentation, its forms, its name and the Executable setting.

Everyone else who has the process open sees a pill in the header — "… is editing" — and their Edit button is disabled. Hovering it explains why: "… is editing — you can edit again once the process is free." They can still read everything. Their screen checks for a free process every few seconds, so the button comes back on its own.

#Give it back

stateDiagram-v2
  [*] --> Free
  Free --> Yours: you click Edit
  Yours --> Free: Save or Discard
  Yours --> Free: you close the tab
  Yours --> Idle: no activity for 5 minutes
  Idle --> Yours: you carry on, and nobody took it
  Idle --> Other: a colleague clicked Edit meanwhile
  Free --> Other: a colleague clicks Edit
  Other --> Free: they save, discard or leave

The lock is released when you:

  • click Save or Discard — both end editing;
  • close the tab or the browser;
  • stop working for five minutes.

#When you step away

While you edit, Chester keeps renewing the lock as long as you are active. After five minutes without any activity it stops, and the process becomes free for colleagues.

  • With unsaved changes, a dialog appears after about four minutes of inactivity: Edit lock is about to expire. Choose Save changes now to keep your work safe, or Later to carry on.
  • When you come back and nobody has taken the process in the meantime, your next click or keystroke quietly takes the lock again. You notice nothing.
  • When a colleague took it over, you get a message that they are editing now. Your changes stay on your screen, but saving them will not overwrite theirs — see below.

⚠️ That takeover message is shown in German, whatever the language of the screen: "Bearbeitungssperre abgelaufen — … bearbeitet jetzt. Deine Änderungen bleiben lokal erhalten."

#What the lock does not guarantee

The lock stops two people from editing at once in the normal case. It is not the last line of defence: a save also checks that nobody else has saved since you started, and refuses to overwrite a newer version.

⚠️ The process page does not tell you when that check refuses your save. It reports Changes saved and leaves editing mode, although your diagram changes were not stored. This can only happen when two people really did edit at once — after your lock ran out and a colleague took over, or when the lock service was unavailable. If you saved after a long break, reopen the BPMN tab and check that your changes are there.

⚠️ If the lock service is unavailable, Chester lets everyone edit rather than blocking the work, and nobody sees the "… is editing" pill.