Joomla only allows one user to access and edit an article at a time. When the article is being worked by another user, a small padlock appears next to the article title in the Article Manager, like so:


Due to how the Internet works, it is not unusual that an article will remain locked after the prior user is done. And you may get this error while attempting to access the article.

Check-out failed with the following error: The user checking out does not match the user who checked out the item.

You are not permitted to use that link to directly access that page (#8).


To check-in (or unlock) the article do the following steps:


1.) Click the check-box(es) next to the locked article(s).



2.) On the top nav bar, click the "Check-In" button




The article(s) will be checked back into the system, and you will be able to access and edit the content.



Note: Users need to have 'Administrator' or 'Super-User' permission to unlock an article.