Forum Discussion
View Previous Excel Spreadsheet Version in SharePoint Online without Restoring
Have you tried setting the library to require checkout. That way, they can still open the file, but if they want to open it for editing, they have to check it out. You would also have to educate the users on when to click "Check Out" at the top of the screen, but it might work for you.
Bob,
Yes, I have considered that. Unfortunately these files exist in a larger document library and because requiring a checkout is for the whole document library, it would affect everyone's files, which is not what we want. Had I had the foresight to know this, I would've created a separate document library for just these files but as is the case with a lot of these types of things, it was a situation where a person (in this case, myself) inherited what was already there and the needs/demands of the project have increased over time.
While I wish I could just move these files to a new document library, I don't think that option (of maintaining the versions/history of the files while moving them to a new place) is available yet.