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About this lesson

View version history and restore previous versions of files in Google apps.

Exercise files

The exercises below will open in a new tab. When signed in to your Google account, go to File --> Make a copy to get an editable copy of the file.

Version History Solution
Link Version History
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Quick reference

Version History

Version history (previously called 'Revision history') is allows you to see all the changes that have been made to a file and restore previous versions of a file in Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drawings.

When to use

When you want to see what a file used to look like, when different changes were made, what they were, and who made them, or restore previous versions of the file.

Instructions

Open and close revision history

  • Click “File”
  • Click “Version history”
  • Click "See version history"
  • To close version history and return to your document, click the back arrow in the top left

Review changes

  • The date and time each set of changes were finished is displayed in the “Version history” sidebar
  • Click the revisions in the sidebar to see different versions of the file
  • Click the arrows in the top bar to see individual changes made to each version
  • Uncheck the “Show changes” box to see the version without changes highlighted
  • Click the dropdown arrow next to a particular version to see an expanded list of individual changes

Restore previous revision

  • Click on the revision you want to restore in the “Version history” sidebar
  • Click “Restore this version”
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  • 00:04 Google Drive can help us keep track of all of the revisions and
  • 00:08 changes which we've made within a particular document.
  • 00:12 Whether we are collaborating with others or perhaps we would just like to go back
  • 00:17 to an earlier version of a document that we are editing.
  • 00:20 Drive makes it very easy for us to see what changes have been made
  • 00:25 over the course of the history of that document or of that file.
  • 00:30 To do so, let’s open up this task list.
  • 00:33 Here is a Google Doc Task List, which I have created.
  • 00:37 Here you can see it's fairly simple.
  • 00:38 It's a list of tasks that I would like to complete in the month of August.
  • 00:44 But perhaps I'd like to go back and see the history of this document,
  • 00:48 what changes have I made over time?
  • 00:51 There's two ways in which you can access the revision history.
  • 00:55 The first would be by selecting File > See revision history.
  • 01:01 But there's another method.
  • 01:02 At the top of the screen,
  • 01:04 you will see a link showing you when the last edit was made.
  • 01:09 Here we see a link that says that the last edit was 7 minutes ago.
  • 01:13 I can click this link directly and that, too, will open up the revision history.
  • 01:20 So here we see the latest version of the document.
  • 01:23 It's really the exact same thing we saw on the previous screen.
  • 01:28 But over on the right, we can toggle through and
  • 01:32 select other versions of this document.
  • 01:35 We can see the lifespan of this particular file.
  • 01:40 In some cases you may need to expand a certain timeframe,
  • 01:44 especially if a number of changes were made within the very same period.
  • 01:50 So now, I can go back and see what changes have been made to this document over time.
  • 01:57 The time stamp here indicates when those changes were made.
  • 02:02 The last time that this document was closed with those changes.
  • 02:07 So as I toggle through and select other versions of the document,
  • 02:12 you will also notice that some things are highlighted within it.
  • 02:16 Here you can see that bullet point 4 is highlighted.
  • 02:19 This is indicating that that is what was changed at this time.
  • 02:24 When I first opened up this document on July 20th at 10:50 AM,
  • 02:29 I only had three bullet points, and I added a fourth one there.
  • 02:34 Just like when I opened up the most current version of the document,
  • 02:39 you can see I actually added an additional bullet point here at number 2.
  • 02:44 Now, as you're reviewing the document,
  • 02:47 you may not wish to see the highlighted changes.
  • 02:50 To do so, you can go to the bottom of your screen and uncheck the,
  • 02:54 Show changes, checkbox.
  • 02:57 Now, as you toggle through the different versions,
  • 03:01 you will no longer see those highlighted areas.
  • 03:04 I'm just gonna check this one more time.
  • 03:07 And let's say that this is the actual task list that I would like to be seeing or
  • 03:11 I would like to use right now.
  • 03:14 By going to the top of the screen, I can select the restore this revision button.
  • 03:20 And now, that will become my current version of this document.
  • 03:25 So you can always go back and restore an older version of that particular document.
  • 03:32 Now, what happens to the more current versions?
  • 03:35 What happens to the latest version?
  • 03:37 Well, they do not go away.
  • 03:39 They will remain stored, they will remain save, so
  • 03:42 if you do wish to revert back, you can always do so.
  • 03:46 Once you've made the changes that you would like,
  • 03:48 once you've possibly restored to another version, simply select the back button and
  • 03:54 you will be brought back to the document itself.
  • 03:57 And that's how you can review your revision history within Google Drive.

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