The purpose of creating a Version in Content Server is to preserve an existing item whenever it is modified. Since versioning is governed by permissions, only users with the proper permissions can manually add a Version to an item. For more information about permissions, see Managing Permissions.

Items that can have Versions are called versionable items. Content Server maintains Versions for the following item types:

• Documents

• Compound Documents

• Text Documents

• Categories

• Workflow Maps

• Project Templates

• Extensible Markup Language Document Type Definitions (XML DTDs)

• Custom Views

Content Server uses two types of versioning systems: standard versioning and advanced versioning. Standard versioning is used for all versionable Content Server item types; advanced versioning is used for Documents and Text Documents. Advanced versioning is enabled by default, but can be disabled by your administrator. If advanced versioning is disabled, standard versioning will be used for all Content Server items, including Documents and Text Documents.

	Note: Compound Documents have their own kinds of Versions called Releases and Revisions. For more information, see Working with Releases and Revisions.

Using Standard Versioning

Standard versioning, also known as linear versioning, displays Versions as whole integers. For example: 1, 2, 3, 4. When you add a new versionable item to Content Server, it becomes both an object in the system and a Version of that item. If you then add a Version to the item, it becomes the current Version and represents the object in Content Server. For example, when you add a spreadsheet to Content Server it exists as a Document object and the first Version of the Document. If you add a modified version of the spreadsheet, it becomes the Document object and the second Version. The original spreadsheet is preserved in Content Server as the Document's first Version.

When changes to an item are made, Content Server automatically adds a new Version. You can also add a new Version of an item when you unreserve it. For more information about reserving and unreserving Content Server items, see Working with General Items.

	Note: Versions of an item or Document cannot be reserved. If you want to prevent other users from making changes to, or downloading, a Version of an item or Document, you must lock it.

Accessing Standard Versions

You can quickly access, and work with, previous Versions of any versioned item from the Versions tab of the item's Properties page. Every Version has its own Functions icon, which you can use to open, view, download, delete, lock or unlock a Version.

	Note: When you delete an item that has a standard Version, you delete the current Version and all previous Versions.

By default, Content Server retains an unlimited number of previous Versions, but you can limit the number of Versions on an item-by-item basis. When the Version limit is reached, Content Server automatically purges an item's oldest Version when a new Version is added. You can also purge Versions manually.

You can lock a Version to prevent it from being deleted or purged. Content Server does not include locked Versions in the maximum number of Versions to be retained.

Using Advanced Versioning

Advanced versioning allows users to add a Document or a Document sub-type, such as a Text Document, to Content Server as a major Version or minor Version when the Document is created. A Document's Version tab on its Properties page displays major Versions as whole numbers and minor Versions as decimals. For example, major Versions are displayed as 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0; minor Versions are displayed as 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3. When you add a Document, it is added as minor Version number 0.1. If a Version is added to an existing Document, its Version number will be the next minor Version number. For example, if the latest Version number of a Document is 1.2, and a Version is added, the new Version added will become 1.3.

	Note: Advanced versioning is enabled by default; however, your administrator can disabled advanced versioning. If you edit a document with Advanced Versioning enabled, you will need to select the versioning type for the new version.

If advanced versioning is not enabled, Versions are automatically added using standard versioning. When advanced versioning is disabled on an existing item that has major or minor Versions associated with it, the Version numbers display using standard versioning. For example, 1, 2, 3 and 4. However, existing major or minor Version numbers are preserved in case advanced versioning is re-enabled at a later time.

Accessing Advanced Versions

The functions that you can perform on an advanced Version depends on the permissions you have for that particular item. Like standard Versions, every major or minor Version of a Document has its own Functions icon, which you can use to open, view, download, delete and lock Versions. If a Document is reserved, you can add a major or minor Version when you unreserve the Document. The following table describes the permissions that are required to perform certain functions on Versions.

Users with the Edit permission for a Folder or Project can force all Documents added to that container to use advanced versioning. If this option is selected, the option to choose a type of versioning for the Document you are adding does not appear. The option to force Documents to use advanced versioning can be applied to a specific item, only Folders and Projects within the item, or the specific item and the Folders and Projects within the item. Also, users with the Edit permission can promote minor and major Versions of a Document to its next major Version. Major Versions cannot be “demoted” to minor Versions.

	Note: A Document added to Content Server as a minor Version appears in Content Server with a generic document icon next to it and has an unspecified mime type until a major Version of the Document is added, or it is promoted to a major Version.

You can view an item's Versions on the Version tab of the item's Properties page. The information you see on this page depends on your permissions. If you have:

• Full access, which means the user has been granted the Edit permission to an item, the Versions tab of the item's Properties page displays all major and minor Versions.

• Limited access, which means the user has been granted See Contents permission to an item, the Version tab of the item's Properties page displays only major Versions.

Your administrator also has the ability to allow users to view only major Versions of a Document. If this option is enabled, and no minor Versions for the Document exist, either you will be able to see the Documents, without being able to access them, or the Documents will be hidden altogether. By default, users with access to only major Versions can see that minor Versions exist, but cannot view, open, download, or perform any other functions on them.

As with standard versioning, Content Server retains an unlimited number of previous Versions, but you can limit the number of Versions that are retained on an item-by-item basis. When a Document with major and minor Versions reaches its maximum Version limit, Content Server automatically purges the oldest minor Version. You can purge minor Versions manually, in the same way that you purge standard Versions. Your ability to delete or purge minor Versions of a Document, and your ability to delete major Documents is controlled by permissions. In order to delete minor Versions, you must have the Delete Versions permission for the Document; in order to delete major Versions of a Document, you must have the Delete permission for the Document.

Since locked Versions cannot be deleted, you can prevent major and minor Versions from being deleted by locking them. Locking minor Versions also prevents them from being purged. Major versions cannot be purged, whether or not they are locked; they can only be deleted.

The behavior of certain functions in Content Server, such as moving or copying an item, is affected by advanced Versioning. For more information about the functions that are affected by advanced versioning, see Understanding Advanced Versioning Behavior for Content Server Features and Functions.