Opening and Locking a User Record

Opening a user record means looking at it: click a researcher anywhere their username appears — a search result, the Signed In Users panel on the dashboard, a request, or an appointment — and their record opens. Anyone with permission to view users can open a record to read it. Opening alone changes nothing and never blocks a coworker.

Locking is what happens when you start editing a record. Aeon uses a real-time lock so that only one staff member edits a given user at a time. The lock is what stops two people from overwriting each other's changes on the same record. Most of the time you never think about it: the moment you change a field, Aeon locks the record for you automatically. The Lock button and the warnings on this page are there for the cases where you want to claim a record deliberately, or where someone else already has it.

When you'll use this

• You start editing a user's details — Aeon locks the record for you automatically; you don't have to do anything.
• You want to claim a record before editing it, so coworkers see it's taken — click Lock.
• You open a record and see it Locked by someone — that tells you to coordinate rather than overwrite.

Opening a user record

You can open a record from anywhere a username appears:

1. Find the user — run a user search, click a researcher in the Signed In Users panel on the dashboard, or follow a username link from a request or appointment.
2. The user record opens, showing the Detail section and tabs across the form (Notes, Requests, Appointments, History, Emails, Proxies, Billing, Attachments, and so on), plus the action toolbar.
3. Read or review freely. While you're only viewing, the record is not locked and stays available to everyone.

The browser URL updates to the user (for example, /users/jsmith), so you can copy the address to share the exact record with a colleague. You can jump straight to a tab with its own address too — for example, /users/jsmith?tab=requests.

Viewing is not the same as editing

Opening a record loads it read-only until you actually change something. You can open #12345's requester to check their details mid-task and nothing about the record changes.

How locking works

The lock is shown by a single control in the toolbar that changes depending on the current state:

Toolbar control	What it means
Lock (open-padlock icon)	The record is free. Click to claim it for editing.
Unlock (padlock icon, amber)	You hold the lock. Click to release it.
Locked (padlock icon, red, disabled)	Someone else is editing it right now. You can't edit until they release it.

Hovering the control shows a tooltip — "Lock this user for exclusive editing," "Release your lock on this user," or "This user is being processed by name."

The third state names no one on the button itself. Hover it to find out who holds the lock — the tooltip is where the name appears. If you've collapsed the toolbar, that state shows the red padlock with no text at all, so the tooltip is the only way to read it.

Locking happens automatically when you edit

You rarely click Lock yourself. The moment you change any field on a user record, Aeon acquires the lock for you in the background. From that point the record is yours until you save, discard, release it, or let it time out.

Locking manually

To claim a record before you start typing — useful when you want coworkers to see it's taken:

1. Open the user record (for example, jsmith).
2. In the toolbar, click Lock.
3. The control switches to Unlock (amber), and a brief "User locked for editing" confirmation appears.

Releasing the lock

Your lock is released when you:

• click Unlock (you'll see "User unlocked"),
• Save your changes — saving releases the lock automatically,
• Discard your changes, or
• let it time out from inactivity (see below).

You can hold more than one lock at a time

Locking a second record does not release the first. Locks accumulate until you release them, save, or time out, and the status bar keeps the count — it reads "2 locks" rather than naming one, and offers a Release All button once you hold more than one. Check there if you're not sure what you still have claimed.

Simply viewing another user, request, or activity releases nothing either, so you can look something up mid-edit and come back to find your lock intact.

When someone else holds the lock

If you open a record a coworker is editing, the toolbar shows Locked and the form is read-only. Hover the control to see who has it. You can still read every field and tab; you just can't edit or save until they're done. The toolbar's editing actions — Save, Discard, Print, Attach, the clearance and reading-room buttons, and the Manage/Email/Proxies/New/Billing menus — are all disabled while someone else holds the lock.

You can't save over someone else's lock

While another staff member holds the lock, editing is disabled. If you try to save anyway with Ctrl+S / ⌘S, Aeon refuses with "Cannot save - this user is locked by another user." Reach out to the person named in the lock's tooltip instead of forcing the change. The moment they release it, the control returns to Lock and the record is yours to claim.

If someone takes a lock on a record you're viewing, Aeon tells you in the moment with a "User is now being edited by name" notification, so you know to stop before making edits.

Lock timeout — what happens if you walk away

A lock is meant for active work, so Aeon won't let an idle lock block a record forever. As long as you're actively editing, the lock refreshes on its own and you'll never run into the timeout.

If you leave a locked record idle for five minutes, Aeon doesn't drop the lock silently — it puts up a Lock Expiring Soon dialog naming the record, with a countdown and two buttons:

• Keep Lock — you keep it, and the countdown resets. A "Lock extended" confirmation appears.
• Release Lock — you hand it back straight away, with a "Lock released" confirmation.

Ignore the dialog and the lock expires about a minute later. Nothing announces the expiry itself; the control simply returns to Lock, and you can claim the record again by clicking it or by starting to edit.

That warning only reaches a session that's still connected. If your browser loses its connection entirely — you close the tab, your laptop sleeps, or the network drops — there's no dialog to show you, so Aeon releases your locks automatically after a brief grace period instead. Either way, a dropped session doesn't leave a record stuck.

Permissions

• You need the View level of the Users permission to open a record at all. If your role can't view users, the record won't open.
• The Lock/Unlock control, and editing in general, require the Edit level of the Users permission. If your role is view-only for users, the form is read-only and the Lock control is disabled.
• Locking relies on Aeon's real-time connection. If your session has lost that connection (for example, after a network drop), the Lock control is temporarily disabled until it reconnects.