Versions & branches

CompassDocs keeps a full revision history for every document. Each save that changes the title or content adds a version — with who made it, when, and an optional change note saying why. Nothing is ever overwritten: restores and merges add new versions on top of the timeline.

Open a document and click the clock icon in the header (or the “N versions” link in the byline) to open Version history.

Comparing versions

The history page opens with the latest change pre-selected. To compare any two versions, pick Original (older) and Modified (newer) with the radio buttons in the timeline.

• Rendered (the default) shows the changes in the document’s own layout: each changed section renders exactly as it does on the page — callouts, lists, tables, diagrams — with removed sections tinted red directly above their green-tinted replacements.
• Markdown shows the old version on the left and the new one on the right, line by line.
• Inline shows a single unified view with removed lines in red and added lines in green.

The source views include line numbers and word-level highlighting inside modified lines so you can see exactly which words changed; every view shows an +added / −removed summary and folds long unchanged stretches behind a “show” control. If the title changed between the two versions, that’s shown above the content diff.

Change notes

When editing a document, fill in the Change note field (“what changed and why?”) before saving — it appears next to that version in the timeline. Notes survive the approval workflow: if your edit goes through the review queue, the approved version keeps your note and records who approved it.

Versions created by the system get automatic notes (“Created”, “Branched”, “Restored version 3 …”, “Merged draft branch”).

Restoring a previous version

Editors with edit rights in the space see a Restore button on every older version. Restoring makes that version’s title and content current — as a new version at the top of the history, so you can always restore forward again. Restored versions carry a Restored badge and remember which version they came from.

Restores follow the approval workflow: on a published document in strict mode, an editor’s restore is submitted to the review queue for an approver to apply; approvers and admins restore immediately.

If the version you pick is identical to the current document, CompassDocs tells you there’s nothing to restore.

Draft branches

For bigger rewrites, work on a draft branch — a private working copy of the document:

1. Click the branch icon in the document header (or New draft branch on the history page). You land in the editor on a fresh copy.
2. Edit and save as often as you like. The branch has its own version history, and the live document is untouched.
3. When you’re ready, open the branch and use the banner at the top: Merge into original (with an optional change note) or Discard.

Branches are invisible everywhere readers look — they don’t appear in spaces, search, dashboards, Ask AI answers, or exports — and they can never be published directly; the only way a branch’s content goes live is a merge.

Merging follows the approval workflow too: approvers and admins merge instantly (the branch then moves to the Trash), while editors in strict mode submit the merge to the review queue — the branch stays open until the change is approved. The original document shows a notice while branches are in progress, linking to the history page where they’re listed.

Who changed what

Every version records its author, and every restore, branch, and merge is written to the audit log with the actor, document, and IP address — document.restore_version, document.branch_create, and document.branch_merge — alongside the existing document events.