Patent ID: 8196029

Claim:
A method for enabling simultaneous multi-user editing of an original document, the method comprising the steps of: receiving a request from a first user to open the original document; determining whether the original document is open at a second user, wherein the second user has exclusive rights to save the original document while the original document is open at the second user; in response to a determination that the original document is open at the second user, creating a local copy and storing a path of the original document with the local copy; in response to the receipt of a request to save changes to the local copy, determining whether the original document is still open at the second user; in response to a determination that the original document is not still open at the second user, identifying a location for the original document using the stored path and merging the local copy with the original document; in response to a determination that the original document is still open at the second user, prompting the first user to decide between saving the local copy with the path of the original document such that a subsequent merge of the saved local copy and the original document can be performed, and saving the local copy as a separate file as compared to the original document.