# Locks

After closing a period, you can lock it to prevent any further changes. This ensures your finalized books stay intact and gives you a clear audit trail for closed periods.

***

### How to Lock a Period

1. Navigate to your profile icon in the top right.
2. Select **Locks**.
3. Select the month you want to lock, then click **Lock**.

<figure><img src="/files/8DeAiFNHuFHnY80pq1Kz" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

**Note:** Locking a month automatically locks all prior months as well.

***

### How to Unlock a Period

1. Navigate to **Locks** from your profile icon.
2. Click on the locked month you want to reopen.
3. Select **Unlock**.

{% hint style="warning" %}
**Important:** Unlocking a period will re-enable all restricted actions listed below. Any rules that apply to transactions in the unlocked period will begin processing again, and transaction data for accounts added during the locked period will sync retroactively. Review your rules and recent account additions before unlocking to avoid unintended changes.
{% endhint %}

***

### What Happens When a Period Is Locked

#### Client Access

If you have added your client as a Member, they will have view-only access to the locked period. This allows them to review reports without the risk of making changes.

#### Account Restrictions

* You cannot delete any account that has transactions within a locked period.
* If a new account is added to an entity with a locked period, transaction data will **not** sync for the locked dates. If the period is later unlocked, the transaction data will sync.

#### Rules

Automation rules will **not** modify transactions in locked periods. Keep this in mind when creating or editing rules — they will skip any transactions that fall within a locked date range.

***

### Restricted Actions

The following actions **cannot** be performed on transactions in a locked period:

* Changing categorization
* Changing entity assignment
* Changing vendor or customer assignment
* Matching or unmatching transactions
* Splitting or un-splitting transactions
* Assigning or removing classes
* Editing chart of accounts mapping
* Creating or deleting manual journal entries

### Allowed Actions

The following actions **can** still be performed on transactions in a locked period:

* Answering substantiation questions (e.g., "Who did you meet?" or "Where did you travel?")
* Adding notes
* Uploading and matching receipts

<figure><img src="/files/uBTGm3WxXk3t2LWHsdt5" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

<details>

<summary>Who can edit locks?</summary>

Locks are not editable by certain roles. See [Roles & Permissions](/managing-clients/roles-and-permissions.md) for full details.

</details>


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://docs.kick.co/close-workflows/locks.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.