Google Drive
Version History
Embedded Files
Version History and restoring
Version History and restoring
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Remember every file edited on Google has a history / versions (saved in a database connected/identified by the fileID), this means that it's possible to go back serverval changes of the document, this also means that you can see what happened to the document, if something was edited that you didn't know about.
If you ever deleted a file you can restore it from your trash for 20 days (you can find trash in the home screen of the application, on the 3 little dots in the right hand corner) and otherwise the administrator can restore the file until 30 days after deletion (the administrator will restore all files, deleted 30 days (or less ago) - NOTE: This is not a easy job for a administrator to do, please be kind and patient whenever requested!).
ℹ️ This is not possible with Microsoft products! so my advice is to use Google Workspace (more control (sharing/audit) and backup/restoring files)
How to see the file history of a file in Google
Whenever you have a document open, it doesn't matter if it's a Google Slide, Doc or Sheet. It's possible to see the file history and revisions of the files. In the top bar next to the menu there is a text; most of the time it will say:
"Last edit <date> " if you click on this a new page will be opened. On this page you will see the document; on the right you will see a list with dates, if you click on it, it will open up and show the changes made to the document in colour.
When click on the 3 dots a menu will appear in the menu it's possible to do the following things.
Restore this version; you will restore that version of the file; the current version will still be there with the date of that day.
Name this version; this means that you name and save it in the database and can be found easily.
Make a copy; this means a new document will be created with that version of the file.
If you click on the setting Name this version, a popup will be shown to name the document. If you look at the top of the bar, you will see a drop down menu. If you click you can select Named versions, here you can select the version that you want to restore.
This can be handy if you have different / same contract with little things that change, you can give them names, restore those versions. So it's all in one easy document related in the same area.
Version history of other files
It's also possible to save / have different revisions of other file types in Google Drive. For example a video with different versions of music underneath it (public / internal). You can easily save it under one file without having to have different versions. Now you don't have to sort them out or name them differently.
When you right click on the file in drive.google.com, the menu will show you the following button "Manage versions". This will not happen with Google based files because they have their own History in the application.
When clicking on this, a new popup window will appear. You can click on UPLOAD NEW VERSION and upload inside the same file, after it's done uploading, it will be shown in the list underneath.
This windows is also showing a warning, that the version will be deleted after 30 days. That's why after every upload you have to select "Keep forever" you can find it by click on the 3 dots shown in the example.
When you want to deleted a version you can press deleted, and yes it's also possible to restore that. But it will only be able to restore the file back in the time that is given. So newer version(s) can be gone.
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