Document Versioning

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What Does Document Versioning Mean?

Document versioning refers to the use and management of multiple versions of a document. This is more generally known as file versioning or file version management, for general file types.

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Techopedia Explains Document Versioning

The idea behind document versioning is that text editors, word processing programs and other types of software should be able to handle multiple versions of a single file and provide access to users. This can be done in many different ways. One fundamental aspect of document versioning is tracking changes and tracking the creation of multiple document versions, for example, by numbering file versions in succession.

Along with tracking changes, there is the issue of file integrity or determining whether changes have been made to files. Some programs use hashing features or other indicators to see whether files have been altered. Another useful tool for document versioning services is auto-save features, which can help preserve file changes if the system crashes or some other event jeopardizes an unsaved file.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology expert

Margaret is an award-winning writer and educator known for her ability to explain complex technical topics to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles in the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret’s idea of ​​a fun day is to help IT and business professionals to learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.