In the WordPress backend, when a user is editing an article, the system will automatically add a lock to the article. When another user wants to edit the article at the same time, as shown in the figure below, it will prompt “XXX is editing this article. Do you want to take over?”. This is an insurance measure to prevent two users from editing an article at the same time, causing article version conflicts.
In some cases, this function may bring us some unnecessary trouble, such as the one I developed during this timeWordPress CRM system, there is a knowledge base module in the backend. Administrators can publish articles in the knowledge base. Customer service staff only have permission to read articles in the backend (the function of reading articles is implemented through Metabox in the backend). When the administrator is editing an article, if the customer service staff wants to read this article, the above prompt will appear. If you click Take Over, the administrator will not be able to continue editing. For this workflow, the article edit lock feature is a distraction.
Disable post edit lock using the Disable Post Locking plugin
In order to enable another user to open the continue reading function while editing the article, we need to disable the background article editing lock function. There is a plug-in that implements this function for us. This plugin isDisable Post Locking. According to the plug-in library information, this plug-in was last updated 5 years ago, but after actual testing, the plug-in can still work normally in version 4.9.6. Friends in need can give it a try. It should be noted that WordPress has a function to automatically save articles. If two users who open an article at the same time have permission to edit the article, the behavior of automatically saving the article may cause the content edited by the two users to be lost. If you really need to edit an article at the same time, it is recommended to use some services or software that are more convenient for writing, such as Google Docs or the sharing function of Word. After editing and review, publish it to WordPress.