How is a checked out file different from a checked in file?

I think I have a grasp of this, but I want to see if I'm understanding it correctly.

If a file which appears in my Local Vault View is checked in, then I'm looking at the file actually in the vault - the same one that's available to all the other users.

If a file which appears in my Local Vault View is checked out (by me), then I'm looking at a copy of the file in the vault, which is actually on my local machine.

If my understanding is correct, then when I've checked out a file, copying another file (of the same extension and file name) over the one I'm seeing in my Local Vault View would actually be replacing the copy on my machine.  If I then checked the file in, the new file (even if it's very different from the original) would go into the actual vault as the next version of that file.  If I instead performed an 'un-check out', my newly copied file would be discarded.

I hope the foregoing is correct, because it means I may have a reasonable strategy for mass-importation of our files into our vault, which would be a major coup.

Thanks,

Brian-

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