---
title: "Lock and unlock an estimate"
description: "Lock is a team coordination signal. It shows a red 'View Only' badge, greys out the FNOL and the +Upload control, and restricts the breadcrumb kebab to Unlock and Export. Anyone with access can still unlock — it's a hint, not a permission."
group: "estimates"
lane: "how-to"
status: "published"
publishedAt: 2026-05-15
sidebarOrder: 150
tags: ["workflow", "team", "how-to"]
relatedSlugs:
  - "estimates/change-status"
  - "estimates/export-pdf"
  - "estimates/duplicate-estimate"
  - "reference/estimate-anatomy"
sidebarLabel: "Lock / unlock"
---

Lock is Wave's *"this one's mine, hands off"* signal. It's a coordination tool, not a permission system — anyone with access to the estimate can still unlock it. Use it to tell your team you're mid-rebuild or waiting on carrier sign-off and you don't want concurrent edits.

## How to lock

1. Open the **breadcrumb kebab** (top-right of the estimate). It has four actions: **Lock**, **Export**, **Duplicate**, **Delete**.
2. Choose **Lock**.

The lock state lands immediately.

## What changes when an estimate is locked

- **A red "View Only" badge** appears in the breadcrumb next to the customer name. It's the visible signal that this estimate is being held in place.
- **FNOL fields** (customer name, address, insurance, claim #, adjuster name, adjuster email) go grey and become non-editable.
- **The +Upload photo control** is disabled. You can't add photos while locked.
- **The breadcrumb kebab swaps its contents** to:
  - **Unlock** (red — the only way back to editable)
  - **Export** (still active — see below)
  - **Duplicate** (greyed)
  - **Delete** (greyed)

> **Export stays active while locked.** That's intentional — locking is exactly when you'd want to ship a clean PDF without something changing under you. Export is the only mutating-adjacent action that survives the lock.

## How to unlock

Same path. Open the breadcrumb kebab → **Unlock**. Two things happen:

- A centered green modal appears: *"Project Unlocked / Editing enabled"*
- A matching toast pops in the bottom-right

The View Only badge clears, FNOL fields become editable again, +Upload re-enables, and the kebab returns to the full four actions.

## Lock is a soft signal

> Anyone with access to the estimate — Member or Admin — can unlock it. Wave does not block edits from other teammates at the database level. Lock is a **visible "don't touch" signal**, not a permission or access control.

If you need stronger guarantees than a soft lock — read-only sharing with an external party, for example — that's not a Wave capability today.

## When to lock

- **You've finalized an estimate and don't want teammates editing it** while you wait for carrier sign-off
- **You're mid-rebuild** and don't want someone else's chat messages tangling with yours
- **You're about to export** a clean PDF and you want a frozen state

## What lock doesn't do

- It does **not** change the estimate's [status](/docs/estimates/change-status). Lock and status are orthogonal — an estimate can be locked AND Preliminary, locked AND Completed, etc.
- It does **not** block PDF export.
- It does **not** affect the chat or the right pane's display — only the editability of FNOL fields and the +Upload control.

## Related

- [Change an estimate's status](/docs/estimates/change-status) — independent of lock
- [Export to PDF](/docs/estimates/export-pdf) — still works while locked
- [Duplicate an estimate](/docs/estimates/duplicate-estimate) — disabled while locked; unlock first if you want to branch
- [Estimate anatomy — breadcrumb kebab](/docs/reference/estimate-anatomy#breadcrumb-kebab) — all four actions in reference form