Lock Draft
Overview
Lock Draft prevents accidental changes to a finished design. When a draft is locked, all drawing, editing, and modification operations are blocked — you can view and print the draft, but you can't accidentally alter it. This is especially useful for designs you've finalized and don't want to risk changing while browsing or printing.
Locking a Draft
Click the Lock button to lock the current draft. You'll find the Lock button in two places:
Quick Access Toolbar — The small icon bar at the top of the window, always visible regardless of which ribbon tab is selected
Home tab — In the File group on the ribbon
When you lock a draft:
The button label changes from "Lock" to "Locked"
A lock icon appears before the file name in the document tab
A toast notification confirms "Draft locked — edits are now prevented"
The lock state is saved with the WIF file, so the draft remains locked the next time you open it
What's Blocked When Locked
When a draft is locked, the following actions are prevented:
Drawing — Clicking in the threading, treadling, tie-up, or drawdown grids has no effect
Color changes — Clicking on warp or weft color cells is blocked
Editing operations — Cut, paste, insert, delete, and all clipboard operations are blocked
Design tools — Operations like Echo, Interleave, Amalgamation, Color Repeats, Design Repeats, and all other design modification tools are blocked
Thread operations — Insert Thread and Remove Thread are blocked
Undo and Redo — Both are disabled since there's nothing to undo or redo
Save — The regular Save command is blocked to prevent accidentally overwriting the locked file. A toast message reminds you to use Save As if you need a copy, or unlock first to overwrite.
When you attempt any blocked action, a brief toast notification appears explaining that the draft is locked.
What Still Works When Locked
Locking a draft doesn't prevent you from viewing or outputting the design:
Viewing — Scroll, zoom, and navigate the draft freely
Printing — All print operations work normally (Threading, Treadling, Tie-Up, Drawdown, Color Card, Warp Winding Plan, Weft Color Plan, Project Report, Weaver's Writeup)
Save As — You can save a copy under a different name. When the draft is locked, Save As automatically suggests a file name with "(copy)" appended, so you don't accidentally overwrite the locked original.
Switching tabs — You can switch between open drafts, each of which maintains its own lock state independently
Unlocking a Draft
Click the Lock button again (it now shows "Locked") to unlock. A confirmation dialog appears asking whether you're sure you want to unlock the draft. This extra step prevents accidentally unlocking a design you intentionally protected.
Click Unlock to confirm, or Cancel to keep the draft locked.
Once unlocked, all editing operations are restored and the lock icon disappears from the document tab.
Lock State Is Saved
The lock state is stored inside the WIF file when you save. This means:
If you lock a draft and save it, the draft will still be locked when you open it again later
If you share a locked WIF file with another weaver, it opens locked on their machine too
Unlocking and saving removes the lock from the file
This makes Lock Draft useful for distributing patterns that you'd prefer recipients not modify without deliberate intent — they can still unlock if they choose, but the lock serves as a clear signal that the design is finalized.
On TempoWeave Mobile
Mobile honors the same lock: a draft locked on desktop opens locked on your tablet or phone, and vice versa.
Lock / Unlock lives on the Home chip, in the Draft section. Unlocking asks for confirmation, same as desktop.
When locked, edit toggles, undo/redo, the focus editors, and the destructive menu actions are blocked; switching to a locked draft's tab drops edit mode automatically.
One platform difference: on mobile, Save works on a locked draft. Since every edit path is blocked at the source, saving can't capture accidental changes — it simply preserves things like weaving progress. On desktop, Save is blocked while locked and Save As offers a copy instead.
Tips
Lock your finished designs. Once you've completed a draft and printed or shared it, locking prevents the frustrating accident of making an unintended change days or weeks later.
Use Save As for variations. If you want to experiment with a locked design, use Save As to create a copy with a new name, then unlock the copy. The original stays protected.
Lock before printing. If you're about to print a batch of reports from a completed design, locking first ensures you don't accidentally bump a cell while navigating between print options.
Each tab locks independently. If you have multiple drafts open, locking one doesn't affect the others. You can have some drafts locked and others unlocked at the same time.
Last updated
Was this helpful?