One of the (almost unique) features that Joomla has is “locking” articles. So, when someone is editing an article, that article is locked to prevent others from editing it. The lock is released when the article is “closed” by clicking on the Save & Close button, the Save as Copy button, or the Close button.
However, there is one case where the lock is not released when the article is closed, and it is when the server powering the Joomla website has some aggressive caching enabled. In fact, we are getting clients having this problem at least twice a month for a year now: they open an article, they edit it, they click on Save & Close, and then they see that the article is locked on the Article Manager page. The common denominator between clients having this problem is a cheap host.
So, how do we solve this “locking” problem?
In some cases, the problem is solved by simply disabling browser caching on the backend. In some other cases, the host sends us a few lines to add to the .htaccess file in order to disable their aggressive caching engine. In some rare cases, the host refuses to allow us to disable caching and we are forced to move the client to another (more professional) host.
Is the problem always a server problem?
So far, in every case that we have worked one, the “locking” problem was a server problem (and not an application problem). Having said that, it is always a good idea to disable the .htaccess file (by renaming it to .htaccess.old, for example) and see if that fixes the problem. If it doesn’t, then you should check (with your host) the cache settings of the server hosting your website and apply the appropriate remedy. If you need help fixing this problem, then please contact us. We are always eager to help, our fees are super affordable, and we always find a solution.