"Probably" a basic fault with checkin/checkout

[nicksheppard]

Hi folks,

Don't know a lot about sharepoint....

I've got a 2003 sbs server running sharepoint 2. It's remote and I've only got access to the server at this moment. I've uploaded a document (wordpad only, no word on server) and no problems there.

When I check out the file, I was expecting it to create a local copy in a 'sharepoint drafts' folder in 'my documents' and when I checked it in, expected it to retrieve from this folder and update the library but this is not happening at all. There is no folder in my documents and the only way to update the file is to upload it again, overwriting the previous file. If I select to check in I can add comments (which are saved with the version - versioning is on by the way) but the file doesn't update. Checking out then in with a file does add a new version so it's doing something, but not what I want!

Also when the file is NOT checked out, if I open the file directly through the sharepoint web site, edit and save it it doesn't save the changes.

Am I missing something obvious here. Any advice welcomed.

Thanks,

Nick