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P4 CLI Documentation | 2026.1

# Work offline

The preferred method of working offline (without access to the P4 Server) is to use DVCS (distributed versioning) features. For details, refer to P4 Server Administration Documentation.

If you work offline, you must manually reconcile your work with the P4 Server service when you regain access to it. The following method for working detached assumes that you work on files in your workspace or update the workspace with your additions, changes, and deletions before you update the depot:

To work offline:

1. Work on files without issuing `p4` commands. Instead, use operating system commands to change the permissions on files.
2. After the network connection is re-established, use `p4 status` or `p4 reconcile` to find all files in your workspace that have changed.
3. Submit the resulting changelist(s).

To detect changed files, issue the `p4 status` or `p4 reconcile` commands. The commands perform essentially the same function, but differ in their default behavior and output format.

Command | Description
--- | ---
`p4 reconcile` | When called without arguments, `p4 reconcile` opens the files in a changelist. To preview an operation, you must either use the `-n` option with `p4 reconcile`, or use the `p4 status` command.
`p4 status` | When called without arguments, `p4 status` only previews the results of the workspace reconciliation. You must use either `p4 status -A` (or some combination of the `-e`, `-a`, or `-d` options) to actually open the files in a changelist.

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