Patent ID: 8214395

Claim:
A method in a collaboration system for tracking a non-editable copy of a resource in a real-time collaborative session, the method comprising: creating the real-time collaborative session, the real-time collaborative session having participants; receiving from an owner of an original copy of the resource the non-editable copy of the resource that cannot be edited during the real-time collaborative session for viewing in the real-time collaborative session, the owner being a participant of the real-time collaborative session; recording a location of the original copy of the resource, the location associated with the owner of the original copy of the resource; sharing the non-editable copy of the resource during the real-time collaborative session so that the participants can view but not edit the non-editable copy of the resource as part of the real-time collaborative session; receiving from a requestor who is a participant of the real-time collaborative session a request to edit the original copy of the resource while the non-editable copy of the resource is being shared; determining whether the requestor has permission to edit the original copy of the resource; when it is determined that the requestor has permission to edit the original copy of the resource, when the requestor is owner of the original copy of the resource, initiating sharing of the original copy of the resource in editable form and granting control of an application for editing the original copy of the resource to the owner; and when the requestor is not owner of the original copy of the resource, determining whether the owner has authorized editing of the original copy of the resource; and when it is determined that the owner has authorized editing of the original copy of the resource, initiating sharing of the original copy of the resource in editable form and granting control of the application for editing the original copy of the resource to the owner or, if authorized by the owner, the requestor.