Checking files in and out

Article
10/10/2017

Checking files in and out of source control helps your team work on the same set of files while minimizing the risk that one person might inadvertently delete the changes that someone else made to a file.

To get the latest version of a file from source control

Before you check out a file to work on it, get the latest version from source control to make sure that it has the most recent changes from other members of your team.

Right-click the file you want to work on and click Get Latest Version on the shortcut menu.

To get the latest version of an entire site from source control

Right-click the root folder of your site and click Get Latest Version on the shortcut menu.

To check a file out of source control

Right-click the file you want and click Check Out for Edit on the shortcut menu. The source control icon of the file changes from to to indicate that the file is checked out to you.

To check a file into source control

When you have finished working on a file, check it back into source control to make sure that other developers can work on the most recent version of the file.

Right-click the file and click Check In on the shortcut menu. The source control icon of the file changes from to to indicate that the file is checked back into source control.

To view the history of a file in source control

You may sometimes find that you need to know something about the history of a file, such as who made a particular change or when you checked in one of your earlier versions.

Right-click the file and click View History on the shortcut menu. The history record for the file is displayed in a dialog box.
- Select an earlier version of the file and click Details… to see more information about that earlier version.
- You can click View to see that version of the file.
- You can select two file versions and click Compare to see what changed between the two versions.

To work on files when the Team Foundation server is unavailable

If your Team Foundation server is offline, or if you must work at home where you do not have access to the Team Foundation server, you can still use Expression Web to make changes to files that are under source control.

Using Microsoft Visual Studio Team System Team Explorer, open the solution file, and then, in the Go Offline dialog box that appears, click OK. For more information, see How to: Work Offline when the Server is Unavailable .
Open the solution in Expression Web and make your changes. When you save files, Expression Web will display a Save of Read-Only File dialog box. Click Overwrite to remove the write-protection from the file.
When the Team Foundation server is available again, use the procedure in the topic How to: Work Offline when the Server is Unavailable to go back online. If another team member made changes to the file while you had it checked out, you might need to resolve conflicts.