What you are looking for is called "Version Control" or "Software
Configuration Management" (SCM) applications.
There are Open Source applications, Freeware, Low Cost and all the way up to
very high cost software that may meet your needs.
I personally am a member of CM Crossroads which is a site devoted to Version
Control and SCM products and forums, of which I'm a member of Serena
Dimensions.

Since I've only used 'Dimensions' and 'CVS', I can't help you with for
example Microsoft's Visual Source Safe.
This can be a very complex and overwhelming subject, so I'll point you to a
couple of sites to look at.

List of revision control software:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...ntrol_software

CM Crossroads:
http://www.cmcrossroads.com/

CM Crossroads General Questions Forum (Register and post your question)
http://www.cmcrossroads.com/componen...owcat/catid,4/

CS-RCS:
http://www.componentsoftware.com/Pro...cMan/index.htm

JS


"jim" <jim@home.net> wrote in message
news:1wr9k.6466$NQ5.4154@bignews6.bellsouth.net...
> What is the easiest way to share documents among a small office (9 people)
> that forces check-out/check-in? We really need to be sure that only one
> person at a time is editing each document.
>
> Revision history and backups would be nice, but the biggest thing is
> ease-of-use.
>
> I'm not sure of this is something that you can do natively in Windows or
> if you need a special product to get this capability.
>
> If it has to be a product or add-on, something that integrated into Excel,
> Word and Windows Explorer would be great.
>
> Thanks!
>