File versioning

Keep the earlier bytes of a file instead of final-final-really.wav.

Versioning is off until an admin turns it on under Admin → Settings → File versioning. From then on every folder keeps versions, unless its own settings turn it off. It is an instance setting only: there is no environment variable, and turning it on or off needs no restart.

What makes a version

A version is the file's bytes as they were just before something replaced them:

• Uploading a file whose name already exists in the folder. The upload replaces the file instead of creating name (1).ext, and the old bytes become a version. Names match regardless of case, and a file in the trash does not count. A folder that does not version keeps the old behaviour.
• Upload new version, in a file's menu, replaces the file with whatever you pick, whatever its name.
• Editing a document, sheet, deck or Office file. The first save of each editing session keeps what the file held before you opened it. Autosave does not add a version every two seconds.
• Save as version, in the editor, keeps what is on screen right now.
• Restore keeps the current bytes as a version before bringing an old one back, so a restore never loses anything. The restored version stays listed.

An empty file makes no version, which is also what keeps a fresh upload from recording its own placeholder.

Merging files into versions

Takes that were saved as separate files (Song-001.wav, Song-002 (1).wav, Song-2026-09-07-23_26_16.wav) can be folded into one file after the fact. Select two or more files and choose Merge as versions in the selection bar:

• Pick the order: by each file's own modification date, or by name, with numbers compared as numbers (-2 before -10). The dialog previews the result: v1, v2, … down to the file that stays, last.
• Every file above the last becomes one of its versions in that order, keeping its own name and its modification date, and is then removed from the folder.
• The dialog suggests a name for the file that stays, with the take numbers, copy suffixes and date stamps removed (Song.wav). Change it or keep it; the preview shows the rename.
• Notes on the merged files move to the file that stays. Their stars and share links are removed with them.
• A merge that would make more versions than the folder keeps is refused rather than deleting the oldest takes: raise the folder's limit or pick fewer files. A file that already has versions of its own can only be the one that stays.

Folders cannot be merged, and the option is hidden while versioning is off.

Seeing versions

A file with versions shows its current label beside its name (v3). In list layout, click it to unfold the earlier versions right under the file, as shorter, indented rows led by their label, with the date and who made them. Click it again to fold them away.

An unfolded version opens like any file: an image, video, PDF or text file previews, and a track plays in the bottom player with its own waveform, titled with its version so you can tell takes apart. Versions have no full-screen viewer, and a document's version previews rather than opening in the editor, which only ever edits the current file.

While a track plays, the player has a version picker beside the time: switch takes and playback carries on from the same moment, which is how you compare two mixes. Image and video previews have the same picker, and a video keeps its position too.

In grid layout, where a tile has nowhere to unfold, the label opens a Version history window instead, listing every version to open, download, restore or delete.

Right-click a version, or use its menu, to Download it, Restore it or Delete it. To replace a file by hand, right-click it and choose Upload new version; in a folder that does not keep versions, the option says so rather than replacing the file.

Labels are numbers (v1, v2, …) or the date each version was kept, picked under Settings → Display → Version names. Numbers never shift: once v1 is pruned, v2 stays v2.

How many are kept

The admin sets how many versions each file keeps (10 by default). When a new one would go past that, the oldest is deleted.

Folder settings

Right-click a folder and choose Folder settings, or use the settings button in the toolbar while inside it:

• File versioning: Inherit, On or Off. Inherit takes the value of the nearest parent folder that sets one, or the admin's switch at the top of the drive. The option shows what it currently resolves to.
• Versions kept per file: lowers the admin's limit for this folder and the folders under it. Blank inherits. A folder can never raise the limit.

A recipient of a shared folder cannot change the shared folder's own settings, just as they cannot rename it.

Where they are kept

Versions live beside your files, under a hidden .versions directory at the root of the drive, shared drive or mounted volume. The library scan ignores it. A new version is a hard link to the old bytes, so keeping one costs no time and no space until the file is actually replaced. Its thumbnail or waveform is the one the file already had, linked the same way, so an earlier take is never rendered twice.

With encryption on, versions are sealed like any other file, and the key rotation sweep rewraps them too.

Versions count toward your usage: Settings → Storage lists how much they hold, and the usage bar includes them.

Who sees them

Versions follow access to the file:

• Shared drives: every member sees, opens and restores versions, and each version records the member who made it.
• Shared with someone: a recipient with edit access can restore and delete versions; one with view access can see, open and download them only.
• Public links serve the current file, never an earlier version.
• Read-only volumes never make versions, since nothing writes there.

Through the API

Every route takes the usual drive, volume or share query parameter.

{path} is the folder's id or its path. An upload replaces a file with the same name only when it creates its rows with mode: "upload" in POST /api/v1/storage/file/batch; without it, it still gets name (1). The upload and Office save routes take snapshot=0 to write without keeping a version, which is how the editor's autosave avoids one every two seconds.

What does not carry versions

• Duplicate and Copy to… copy the current bytes only.
• Move within the same drive keeps the versions. A move to another drive or volume is a copy followed by a delete, so the versions stay behind and are deleted with the original.
• Deleting a file for good, emptying the trash, or a file vanishing from a mounted volume deletes its versions as well.