Troubleshoot synchronizing offline files

[Judy]

I have a network directory that contains files such as sales reports,
all the salespeople synchronize this directory when they log on and
off the network, to insure they have the most up-to-date information.
However, if a salesman changes an offline file on his laptop while he
is offline and then logs back onto the network, I get HIS version in
my network directory instead of the version I want. I want to be able
to protect my shared network files so they can't be overwritten, but
this can happen even if the files are password protected. On the other
hand, I do want the guys to be able to update their own files in other
directories and then synchronize them onto the network if they want
to. Seems like this should be a no-brainer but I can't figure it out.
Can anyone help me? TIA.

 

[allan grossman [mvp]]

Hi, Judy -

File synchronization isn't real smart - anyone who
modifies a file and synchronizes with the network will
overwrite the network copy as long as they have
permission to overwrite the file. It doesn't matter who
owns the file, anyone with write access can overwrite it.

I think the best thing you can do is set permissions on
the network file so only you can write to it - that will
prevent the sales guys from overwriting your stuff.

If you right-click the file on the network share (not the
local copy) and select 'Properties' you'll see
a 'Security' tab where you can set file security. Take
ownership of the file and make sure you're the only one
who has write access to it - then tell the sales people
they'll need to save the file with a different name to
get it to synchronize properly. Then, they can have
their copies without overwriting yours.

Hope this helps -

 

[Judy]

Oh yeah...should have thought of that myself. Thanks so much.