Before approving a revision, most reviewers want to see what actually changed. The Versions tab of a controlled document can put two versions next to each other and highlight the differences.
Comparing is available for documents written in the Built-in editor, once the document has at least two versions. Documents kept as an Uploaded file are opaque files, so there is nothing to compare and no compare control is offered on them.
Starting a comparison
Go to Database → Controlled Documents, pick a category, open a document and stay on the Versions tab. Each version carries a Compare dropdown; choose the version you want it measured against. The same dropdown appears when you have a single version open, so you can go straight from reading a revision to comparing it.
The page header changes to Comparing versions, and Back to versions returns you to the list.
Reading the comparison
Each side has its own dropdown listing every version with its status, for example v1.2.0 — Published, along with the date and the person who last moved that version along. A Current chip marks the version vessels are running right now. Picking a version that is already shown on the other side simply swaps the two.
Which side is treated as the newer text follows the version numbers, not the dropdown position, so putting the older version on the left does not turn additions into deletions.
Above the text, a counter reports how many changes there are and lets you walk through them:
- It shows 3 changes, then Change 1 of 3 as you move.
- The arrow buttons are Previous change and Next change. They scroll the change into view, opening any hidden section it sits in.
- When the two versions are identical it says No differences between these versions.
Long stretches of untouched text are folded away as N unchanged blocks hidden, with a Show link to expand them, so a handful of edits in a long manual stay findable.
On a wide screen the two versions sit in aligned columns, each headed with its version number. On a narrow screen they are interleaved in a single column instead, with the older text above the newer.
Restoring an older version
While comparing, whichever side holds a version below the highest one offers Restore this version.
Restoring does not rewrite history. It creates a new draft carrying the old content: the window that opens uses the same version picker as Add new version, so you still choose a patch, minor, major or custom number, and it still has to be above every existing number. Confirm with Restore. The version you restored from, and everything after it, stay exactly as they were, and the new draft goes through the normal review and approval before any vessel sees it.
Two things stop the button working:
- If a draft or a review is already open, the side shows Finish or reject the open version before restoring. instead — a document may only ever have one unpublished version.
- Read-only company accounts do not get the action at all.
Once the draft is created it opens straight away, ready to edit. From then on the version list notes its origin as Restored from v1.1.0, so the provenance stays visible in the history.