Working on the same record as a teammate

When more than one person works in your Orbit dashboard, you can see who else has the same record open. Orbit shows their avatar, warns you when you are both editing, and asks you to pick a winner when you both change the same field. Nothing is locked, so you stay in control of your own save.

Considerations

• Everyone needs their own login. Names and avatars come from the signed-in user, so a shared login shows as one person. See Inviting and managing team members.
• You only see these signals while someone else is on the same record. On your own, the page looks as it always does.
• The warnings are advisory. They do not lock the record and they do not stop you saving.

See who else is on the record

Open a record such as an order, a product or a customer. If anyone else is on it, their avatars appear at the top of the page, next to the save and action buttons.

• A green ring means the person is reading the record. Hover over the avatar to see Priya is viewing.
• An orange ring with a small pencil badge means the person is changing something. The tooltip reads Priya is editing.
• Orbit shows three avatars. Anyone after that collapses into a count chip, such as +2. Hover over the chip to list the rest, each marked (viewing) or (editing).

Tip: Check the avatars before you start a long edit. It takes a second and saves a rewrite.

When you are both editing

As soon as a teammate starts changing the record, an orange banner appears on the page. It names them, for example Priya is editing this order. With two people you see both names. With more, you see the first name and a count of the others. When Orbit can tell which part they are in, it adds the area in brackets, such as Priya is editing this customer (contact details).

Under the name the banner says: Your changes may overwrite theirs if you both save. Coordinate before continuing.

The banner clears itself when they stop editing or leave the page.

Notices on sections and fields

Orbit also marks the exact place your teammate is working.

• On a card that shows a value rather than a box, their draft appears below the value in their own colour, in italics, with the word unsaved and their first name in front of it. Before they type anything, the hint reads Priya is editing.
• A section can carry a small chip in its corner. Priya's unsaved changes means the section in front of you is showing their work, not the saved version.
• If you have your own unsaved changes in that section, nothing is applied for you. The chip reads Priya is editing variants. You'll reconcile on save. so you know a decision is coming.

Choose whose change wins

If you and a teammate change the same field and they save first, a small orange box appears under that field, headed Priya also changed this. It lists both values so you can compare them:

• Yours: the value you have in the field now.
• Theirs: the value your teammate saved.

Two buttons sit under the values:

• Keep mine: your value stays in the field, and that is what goes in when you save the record.
• Take theirs: the field switches to their value and your version is dropped.

Pick one for each field that clashed, then save as normal.

Before you act on an order

Order actions are harder to undo than a text edit, so they get a louder check.

1. From your Orbit dashboard, go to Orders.
2. Open the order and start an action such as fulfilling it or refunding it.
3. If a teammate is on the same action, a prompt appears headed Someone else is on this, with a line about what is happening.
4. Click Wait to stop and check with them, or Continue anyway to go ahead.

Note: The prompt is a courtesy check, not a lock. Orbit guards the action itself as well, so the same fulfilment or refund cannot be run twice.

Tips for teams

• Split the record before you start. One person takes the description and images, the other takes price and stock.
• Save in short bursts. The longer you hold unsaved work, the more there is to reconcile.
• Treat the banner as a prompt to speak to the person, not as a problem to click past.
• Read a conflict box before you choose. Take theirs drops your version of that field.
• Give people the role that matches their job, so fewer of you land on the same record. See Setting what a team member can do.

Related guides

• Inviting and managing team members
• Setting what a team member can do
• Finding your way around the dashboard