# Locks Office Documents For Exclusive Editing

Your users may prefer working with Office documents in an *exclusive* mode, that is, only the user that first opened the document has exclusive editing rights over the document. If another user opens the document, it will open for read-only. This is the default behaviour when working with Office documents on a network file server.

When starting a new <code class="expression">space.vars.PRODUCT\_NAME</code> subscription, *exclusive editing* is the default behaviour when opening Office documents from your <code class="expression">space.vars.PRODUCT\_NAME</code> network drives.

On opening a document in Office, <code class="expression">space.vars.PRODUCT\_NAME</code> acquires a SharePoint lock on the document preventing other users from opening the document for editing.

<figure><img src="/files/h5DTZxL7OeRglIEWMkF7" alt=""><figcaption><p>When opening an Office document from a <code class="expression">space.vars.PRODUCT_NAME</code> mapped network drive, if the document is already locked for editing, Office informs the user and offers an option to open the document for reading</p></figcaption></figure>

<code class="expression">space.vars.PRODUCT\_NAME</code> maintains the lock on the document for the duration the document is opened from <code class="expression">space.vars.PRODUCT\_NAME</code>. On closing the document, the lock is released, allowing another user to open the document for editing.

{% hint style="info" %}
The specific Office applications supported are Excel, Word, and PowerPoint and the document types .doc, .docx, .xls, .xlsx, .xlsm, .ppt, and .pptx
{% endhint %}

<code class="expression">space.vars.PRODUCT\_NAME</code> supports an alternative option for opening Office documents; [open for co-authoring](/feature-guide/supports-office-co-authoring-and-autosave.md). When opened for co-authoring, advanced Office features are available such as collaborative editing and AutoSave.


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