Previously-approved versions of documents that you check into the document library are not visible to users (834109)

SYMPTOMS

When you check in a document that was previously approved, earlier versions of the document that have already been approved are not visible to users when they connect to the document library. This behavior occurs when the content approval feature and the document versioning feature are enabled for a document library in your Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services site.

CAUSE

This behavior occurs because when you check in a document that was previously approved, the status of the document is changed from Approved to Pending. Items that are marked as Pending are not visible to users until the item is approved. This behavior is by design.

WORKAROUND

To work around this behavior, approve the item in the document library. To approve the item in the document library, follow these steps:

Connect to your Windows SharePoint Services site, and then locate the document library that contains the item that you want to approve.
Click the down arrow next to the item that you want to approve, and then click Approve/reject.
In the Approval Status area, click Approved.
In the Comment area, type a comment if you want to add a comment about why you approved.
Click OK.

MORE INFORMATION

When you add a new item or when you modify an existing item in a list or a document library after you enable content approval for that list or document library, the item is marked as Pending. Pending items are only visible to the user who created or modified the item and to users who have the Manage Lists right. Pending items are not visible to users until the item is approved. When an item is approved, the item is marked as Approved and is visible to all users. When an item is rejected, the item is marked as Rejected and is returned to the user who created the item.

For additional information about the content approval feature in Windows SharePoint Services, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

825239 Overview of the content approval feature and the approval status of items in a list or in a document library

For more information about Windows SharePoint Services, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/technologies/sharepoint/default.mspx