Versioning and Document History
How versions work, when to use major vs minor, and how to restore an earlier version.
Versioning and Document History
Every document in Papyrus has a complete version history. You never lose an earlier draft.
Major vs minor versions
- Minor version (1.0 → 1.1) — created automatically when you save edits. Use for incremental changes.
- Major version (1.0 → 2.0) — created manually when you mark a version as a significant revision. Use for “ready to circulate” or “approved” milestones.
To create a major version, click the document → Version history → Promote to major version, and enter a brief description of what changed.
Viewing history
Open any document and click Version history in the right sidebar:
- See every version (number, date, author, description)
- Click any version to preview
- Compare two versions side-by-side
- Restore an earlier version as the current one
Checking out a document
When you start editing a document that others may also touch:
- Open the document
- Click Check out
- Edit (in MS Office Online via WOPI, or download and re-upload)
- Click Check in, increment version, add change comment
Other users see “Checked out by [You]” and cannot edit until you check it back in. Check-outs auto-release after 24 hours.
Restoring a previous version
If a new version turned out to be wrong:
- Open the document
- Click Version history
- Find the version you want to restore
- Click Restore this version
A new version is created with the older content. The intervening versions are preserved (you can re-restore those too).
Permanent history
Even if you delete a document (soft delete), the version history is preserved. When restored from the recycle bin, all versions come back.