Somebody changes the rate card. What should happen to the old one, and to everybody who has a link to it?
What happens
Upload a replacement and the file stays the same file. It keeps its name, its folder, who it is shared with, and any link you have sent out. Its version number goes up by one, and the previous version is kept.
| What stays | What changes |
|---|---|
| The file’s place in its folder | The contents |
| Who it is shared with | The version number |
| Any public link already sent | The size and the modified date |
| Its attachment to a record | Who it was last uploaded by |
This is why you replace rather than re-upload. Upload a second copy called rate-card-final-v2.pdf and you now have two files, one of which is wrong, both of which are shared, and a link you sent last month still points at the old one.
What is kept
Each version keeps its own stored copy, its size, who uploaded it and when. The history is on the file.
When it matters
- A contract that was renegotiated. You need the version that was in force last March, because that is the one the dispute is about.
- A policy. “Which version was live when this happened” is a real question.
- Somebody overwrote the wrong thing. The previous version is still there.
- A price list. What you quoted from in August is not what you quote from now.
Who can do it
Anybody with edit on the file. Somebody with view can read the current version and nothing else.
A worked example
The price list changes in April.
| Do this | Not this |
|---|---|
| Open Price list.pdf and upload the new one as a version. | Upload Price list April.pdf beside it. |
| Everybody now opens the current one. | Two files, and half the business is quoting from the old one. |
| The link you sent in January shows the new prices. | That link still shows January prices, for ever. |
| March’s version is still there if a dispute needs it. | You have both, and no record of which was live when. |
Versions and storage
Every version is stored, so history has a size. A large file replaced weekly is not its own size after a year — it is fifty times it.
That is usually worth paying for. It is worth knowing when the storage bar looks higher than the number of files would suggest.
Who replaced it
Each version records who uploaded it and when. So “this is not the version I approved” has an answer, and it is on the file rather than in somebody’s memory of an email.
Where to go next
Something missing or wrong here? Tell us. A question that needed asking usually means a page that needed writing.