Patent ID: 8239760

Claim:
A non-transitory computer program product for multi-user document editing comprising a computer usable memory medium having computer readable program code embodied therein wherein said computer readable program code is configured to: receive from a user an indication of a granularity level of protection to be associated with at least a portion of presentation data, wherein the indication comprises a selection by the user from a group including family-level granularity, spread-level granularity, presentation layout-level granularity, and presentation object-level granularity; display a first presentation window of a document on a first computer, wherein said first presentation window is configurable to display any one of a publication tree view, a family view, a spread view, a presentation layout view, and a presentation object view; display a second presentation window of said document on a second computer, wherein said second presentation window is configurable to display any one of a publication tree view, a family view, a spread view, a presentation layout view, and a presentation object view; accept a modification request for a requested object within said first presentation window on said first computer, wherein said requested object comprises at least one of a family, a spread, a presentation layout and a presentation object; if the requested object comprises a family, check if a family-level granularity protection exists on the requested object associated with the modification request; if the requested object comprises a spread, check if a spread-level granularity protection exists on the requested object associated with the modification request; if the requested object comprises a presentation layout, check if a presentation layout-level granularity protection exists on the requested object associated with the modification request; if the requested object comprises a presentation object, check if a presentation object-level granularity protection exists on the requested object associated with the modification request; grant said protection on said requested object on the appropriate granularity level to said first computer; prevent modification of said requested object on said appropriate granularity level on said second computer, wherein modification of other objects displayed in said second presentation window is allowed in accordance with the granularity level, and further wherein different users may simultaneously select different granularity levels of protection for the same presentation data; accept a modification of said requested object on said first computer; and display said modification on said second computer.