Drive versioning

By now, you know our Google editors auto-save. That is convenient - and even better, in the background, that autosaving builds a detailed version history. It enables fearless, blameless collaboration. And there are many things you can do with that version history. Let's pop open the hood and put you in control - and get you even more functionality.

Versioning is driving collaboration.

Versioning enables fearless, blameless collaboration

All major Google editors (Docs, Sheets, Slides plus Jamboard, Sites) automatically save every keystroke by every collaborator. That may not surprise you anymore, but still blows the mind of every person we onboard. It's not for convenience or because-we-cannishness, but because stepping up from a siloed office world into a connected team requires trust that nothing gets lost and you always remain in control when you share.

Version history ensures that no mistake is catastrophic when you edit others' files. It lowers barriers to participate. Version history is a pillar of collaboration.

Version history for an entry in my daily log.

Using Version History

We take "autosaving" for granted, but all that saving does much more. Whenever someone types something or modifies something in a document, it gets saved as a version. You can even drill down into those edits to see exactly what a document looked like. Even better: Those old versions are not lost, you can still work with them. Nothing is ever lost in Google Workspace.

You get to version history using See version history from the menu. Docs, Sheets, Slides and Sites will show you (in great detail) who changed what.

Comparing/investigating

Version history is mainly used for "who dunnit?" or to go back to major earlier revisions. When you were away and people edited a lot in your document, it is a great way to see what was done.

Restoring

All Google editors will let you restore any version - any mistake is forgiven. That new version is itself a version, so you could undo the undo. It could not be easier.

Copying

Instead of restoring an old version, you can also create a copy of the old version (or branch, as the nerds would say). A new document will be created with the same history up to that point.

Advanced use cases for versioning

Named versions

When you are in the version history viewer, you can name versions (1) by clicking on their date (2), and show only those named versions (3). This makes versions special - otherwise they are just dates.

Think about naming your versions "Draft John", "Draft after Workshop", "presented to client" where before you would have made copies.

I use this document to fiddle with my default styles. You can see the how it evolved.

History of access changes

If you rather need to see changes on a file level (file was moved, shared, renamed etc.), open Drive and click the details icon. This is invaluable if you run into trouble (for file sharing questions, for example).

The info panel is your best friend before calling the help desk. If you pair it with the "shared with me" view, nothing can stop you from becoming a self-taught Drive sharing wizard on your own.

Version history for non-Google files

The goodness does not stop there. Google Drive is also the best place to store non-Google files, such as Microsoft files or Adobe files or whatever file you and your team are working on. That requires more screenshots than most people can tolerate in a single post, so I'll get to that in the next post.

Nothing ever gets lost and Drive has sophisticated versioning in place - and the best thing: You do not need to enable it, worry about storage. You do what you do best, which is shine at your work in a highly performing team. Google Workspace will do the rest for you. When you need it, version history is there to support you. Go out, work as a true team and, as always, thanks for reading!

Join 1400+ people who read these tips twice a week. Subscribe now!

#docs #sheets #slides Published 2021-04-30 by Holger Matthies.Modified 2021-04-30 by Holger Matthies.

Page updated

Report abuse