WebDAV with WebDrive

WebDAV is an extension of the HTTP protocol, which is the basic file-transfer method that makes up the Internet. Similarly to HTTP, WebDAV connects users to a web server so they can read, write, create, and edit files, as well as manage directories.

The key advantage of WebDAV is the inclusion of properties such as author and modification time of a document in its metadata. This facilitates the WebDAV locking feature, sometimes referred to as DAV locking. WebDAV checks the last-modified times for a file to make sure that a new version hasn’t appeared since it was last opened.

The locking feature blocks the write permission for everyone but the person currently editing a file. This feature prevents overwrite conflicts and dictates that a resource be occupied by only one user at a time. One user cannot overwrite another user’s edits; the person who opened the document first has the edit rights. Furthermore, WebDAV can display who last edited a file—useful information for administrators and support teams.