{"id":47415,"date":"2019-02-18T16:26:06","date_gmt":"2019-02-18T22:26:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/?p=47415"},"modified":"2019-02-19T18:52:57","modified_gmt":"2019-02-20T00:52:57","slug":"auto-save-and-versions-an-often-overlooked-mac-feature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/47415-auto-save-and-versions-an-often-overlooked-mac-feature\/","title":{"rendered":"Auto Save and Versions: An Often Overlooked Mac Feature"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Auto Save and versions has been a feature of the Mac OS since <a href=\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/10618-apparently-os-x-10-7-lion-isnt-for-the-rest-of-us\">OS X Lion&nbsp;<\/a>was released, in the summer of 2011. That&#8217;s a long time for a very helpful file versioning system to be available in the Mac, but it remains largely overlooked.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re wondering what file versioning is and what it does, you\u2019re not alone. To understand its use, you need to go back to the earlier days of the Mac. Back when it was not uncommon to lose a great deal of work because an app crashed or the system crashed.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_47421\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-47421\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-47421\" src=\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/RevertTo640.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"386\" srcset=\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/RevertTo640.jpg 640w, https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/RevertTo640-199x120.jpg 199w, https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/RevertTo640-284x171.jpg 284w, https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/RevertTo640-190x115.jpg 190w, https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/RevertTo640-199x120@2x.jpg 398w, https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/RevertTo640-284x171@2x.jpg 568w, https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/RevertTo640-190x115@2x.jpg 380w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-47421\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>(The Revert To command in the File menu of most apps allows you to access earlier versions of the currently open document.)<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>This fear of lost work convinced many Mac users to adopt a workflow that includes saving work often, and saving any work in progress before performing any type of system function, such as copying files, launching an app, or downloading files.<\/p>\n<p>The bad old days of the Mac are pretty much ancient history, swept away by bug fixes, better development practices, and features like Auto Save and file versioning.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Auto Save and Versioning<\/strong><br \/>\nNot all apps support file versioning. In some cases, it\u2019s just because the app developer chose not to use the standard file API provided by Apple, and instead rolled their own, likely because they needed some capability not included in the native file manager. Or, the developer&#8217;s app wouldn\u2019t work well with Auto Save and versioning because of the way it forces saves to occur without the user\u2019s request. Think multimedia editing apps, where you don&#8217;t want the edits you\u2019re working on to replace the original files until you\u2019re ready to commit to the changes.<\/p>\n<p>For just about every other type of app, Auto Save and versions can ensure you never lose a significant amount of work, and allows you to revert to earlier versions of a document.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How Auto Save and Versions Work<\/strong><br \/>\nAuto Save and versions are two parts of the file versioning system; you need both for the process to work. If an app is designed to support versions, then it also supports Auto Save. File versioning is built into the file manager, and is part of the Document Architecture that Apple provides. It\u2019s not part of Time Machine, nor is it reliant on <a href=\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/32972-time-machine-what-it-is-how-it-works-and-how-to-use-it-with-your-mac\">any feature or service of Time Machine<\/a>. The two are often confused because the Version History viewer looks almost the same as the Time Machine interface. And while they both allow access to earlier versions of a file, that\u2019s where their similarities diverge.<\/p>\n<p>Versioning occurs when you create a new document in an app that supports the Auto Save and versioning feature. Once you perform the original save or save as, the saved copy is stored as the current version. At this point the app will automatically take periodic snapshots of the open document, saving them as a new current version. The older version isn\u2019t lost; instead it becomes a previous version.<\/p>\n<p>Apps have a second way to ensure your work is saved automatically. While actively working on a document, if you take a break by not performing any tasks with the document, or move focus away from the document, say to view a web site, the app will take another snapshot, creating another new version of the document. In this way, a failure, a freeze, or a crash of your Mac, or any of its apps, will likely result in no significant loss of work.<\/p>\n<p>The last way an app can create a version is with the good old-fashioned Save command. You will still find Save in an app\u2019s file menu, along with the usual keyboard shortcut (Command + S). The only difference is that now the app creates a new current version, adding to the version history.<\/p>\n<p>All those previous versions of a document can be accessed from within the app, letting you return to a previous version of a document. Made a mistake in a document edit and need to go back to what was there a few hours ago? Auto Save and versions makes this an easy task. We\u2019ll take a closer look at accessing version history in a bit, but first\u2026<\/p>\n<p><strong>Duplicate or Save As?<\/strong><br \/>\nThe change to Auto Save and file versioning caused a change to an app\u2019s File menu, with the addition of a Duplicate command, and a change to when the Save As command is available.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_47423\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-47423\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-47423\" src=\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Duplicate640.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"437\" srcset=\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Duplicate640.jpg 640w, https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Duplicate640-176x120.jpg 176w, https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Duplicate640-284x194.jpg 284w, https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Duplicate640-190x130.jpg 190w, https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Duplicate640-176x120@2x.jpg 352w, https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Duplicate640-284x194@2x.jpg 568w, https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Duplicate640-190x130@2x.jpg 380w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-47423\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>(The Duplicate command in the File menu usually replaces the older Save As command; it even uses the same keyboard shortcut.)<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>You may notice that the older Save As command is sometimes in the file menu, and sometimes not. Save As will be present in the file menu of most apps until you perform the original Save or Save As. Once the document has been saved once, the Save As command changes to Duplicate. Some apps completely forgo the Save As command, offering only the Save and Duplicate options in the file menu.<\/p>\n<p>Duplicate creates a copy of the current version of the file in the same folder, and appends the word &#8216;copy&#8217; to the file name. So, the file My Document would become My Document copy. The app\u2019s document window\u2019s content is replaced with the copy, ready for you to work with (some apps will open a new document window with the copy). Once the copied document is saved, a new set of file versions is created. The old versions remain with the original document and are not copied to the duplicate document.<\/p>\n<p><i>Tip:&nbsp;<\/i>Duplicate does not allow you to save a file to a new format, something you can usually do with the Save As command. If you need to change document formats, check to see if the app has an Export command, or try opening the File menu and holding down the Option key; the Duplicate command may change to Save As.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Accessing Version History<\/strong><br \/>\nShould you ever need to access a past version of the currently open document, you can do so from within the app by selecting Revert To from the file menu. The Revert To command will display a number of different sub menus, depending on the state of the versions stored.<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019re likely to see:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Previous Saved:&nbsp;<\/strong>Depending on the Mac OS version, it may say Last Saved. This will swap the currently displayed document with the last saved version.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Last Opened:&nbsp;<\/strong>Replaces the currently displayed document with the version that was current when you last opened the document.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Browse All Versions:&nbsp;<\/strong>This will open the Version History viewer, and allow you to see all of the available versions of the document. If you\u2019ve used Time Machine, the viewer interface will be very familiar.<\/p>\n<p>You may not see all of the Revert To submenus; which ones are present depends on the state of the file versions for the currently open document.<\/p>\n<p>To use the Version History viewer, select the Revert To, Browse All Versions item from the File menu.<\/p>\n<p>The Version History display will open full screen.<\/p>\n<p>The left-hand pane contains the current version of the document, while the right-hand pane displays the latest saved version. Just as in Time Machine, use the arrows on the right side to go back to previous versions. You can also use the time scale along the right-hand side of the window to jump backwards in larger increments (hours, days, etc.).<\/p>\n<p>Once you find the version you wish to use, you can click the Restore button to replace the current version with the one you have selected.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_47419\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-47419\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-47419\" src=\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/VersionsHistory640.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"407\" srcset=\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/VersionsHistory640.jpg 640w, https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/VersionsHistory640-189x120.jpg 189w, https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/VersionsHistory640-284x181.jpg 284w, https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/VersionsHistory640-190x121.jpg 190w, https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/VersionsHistory640-100x65.jpg 100w, https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/VersionsHistory640-189x120@2x.jpg 378w, https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/VersionsHistory640-284x181@2x.jpg 568w, https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/VersionsHistory640-190x121@2x.jpg 380w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-47419\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>(The Version History viewer looks and operates much like the Time Machine interface for recovering files.)<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><i>Tip:&nbsp;<\/i>You may not always want to replace the current version with the older one. Instead, you can restore the older version as a copy, essentially mimicking the Duplicate function. To create a copy, hold down the Option key; the Restore button will change to Restore a Copy.<\/p>\n<p><i>Tip within a tip:&nbsp;<\/i>Documents in the Version History viewer can&#8217;t be edited (without restoring them), but you can copy text from any of the older document versions. Use the standard text selection tools, such as dragging across multiple words or lines of text, then use the Command + C keys to copy the text to the clipboard. You can then paste the text into other documents as needed.<\/p>\n<p>You can also delete any of the older versions by using the arrow keys or time scale to select an older version. Once the version you wish to remove is shown in the right-hand pane, move your cursor up to the very top of the History Viewer window. After a moment, the menu for the app you\u2019re using will be displayed.<\/p>\n<p>Select Revert To, Delete This Version from the File menu.<\/p>\n<p>When you&#8217;re finished using the viewer, click or tap the Done button.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What Happens to the Versions?<\/strong><br \/>\nThe file system maintains a database that keeps track of each document\u2019s file versions. When you delete a document from your Mac, all of the versions are also deleted. This version deletion will occur if you empty the Trash or use Terminal commands to delete a document.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, versions will not follow documents you copy or move to another device, to <a href=\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/32279-new-icloud-com-feature-recovery-of-deleted-files-contacts-calendars-reminders\">iCloud<\/a>, or send as attachments.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Turning Off Auto Save<\/strong><br \/>\nSome habits die hard, so if you would rather have control over when a document is saved, you can turn Auto Save off system wide. This will not turn off the file versioning system, although new versions will only be added for a file when you manually perform a save.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_47418\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-47418\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-47418\" src=\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/AutosaveOff640.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"636\" srcset=\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/AutosaveOff640.jpg 640w, https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/AutosaveOff640-121x120.jpg 121w, https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/AutosaveOff640-284x282.jpg 284w, https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/AutosaveOff640-190x190.jpg 190w, https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/AutosaveOff640-121x120@2x.jpg 242w, https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/AutosaveOff640-284x282@2x.jpg 568w, https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/AutosaveOff640-190x190@2x.jpg 380w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-47418\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>(Use the General preference pane to turn Auto Save off for all apps.)<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>To turn off Auto Save, launch System Preferences by clicking or tapping its icon in the Dock, or selecting System Preferences from the Apple menu.<\/p>\n<p>Select the General preference pane.<\/p>\n<p>Place a checkmark in the checkbox labeled Ask to keep changes when closing documents.<\/p>\n<p>Although this option sounds as if it only affects saves when quitting an app or closing a document, it also prevents an app from auto saving a document.<\/p>\n<p>You can close System preferences.<\/p>\n<p>To turn Auto Save back on, simply remove the checkmark you added above.<\/p>\n<p><strong>That&#8217;s a Wrap<\/strong><br \/>\nAuto Save and versions may be an older feature of the Mac OS, but it can help ensure that all the time and effort you put into a document is time well spent, and not a lost effort should an app or your Mac crash while you\u2019re working.<\/p>\n<p>But don&#8217;t forget that file versioning isn\u2019t a backup. <a href=\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/47199-storage-guide-use-multi-bay-enclosures-for-better-backups\">It can&#8217;t protect you from problems that may occur with your storage system<\/a>. Put another way, backups and versions go hand-in-hand to ensure your work or playtime is productive time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Auto Save and versions has been a feature of the Mac OS since OS X Lion&nbsp;was released, in the summer of 2011. That&#8217;s a long time for a very helpful file versioning system to be available in the Mac, but it remains largely overlooked. If you\u2019re wondering what file versioning is and what it does, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":97,"featured_media":47418,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"class_list":["post-47415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech-tips"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v20.2 (Yoast SEO v20.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Auto Save and Versions: An Often Overlooked Mac Feature<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Auto Save and file versioning have been part of the Mac OS for a while. 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Learn how to use Auto Save and versions to recover previous versions of a document.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/47415-auto-save-and-versions-an-often-overlooked-mac-feature\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rocket Yard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-02-18T22:26:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-02-20T00:52:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/AutosaveOff640.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"636\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tom Nelson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tom Nelson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"9 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/47415-auto-save-and-versions-an-often-overlooked-mac-feature\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/47415-auto-save-and-versions-an-often-overlooked-mac-feature\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Tom Nelson\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/647f465acd469444183711d2a22648cb\"},\"headline\":\"Auto Save and Versions: An Often Overlooked Mac Feature\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-02-18T22:26:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-02-20T00:52:57+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/47415-auto-save-and-versions-an-often-overlooked-mac-feature\/\"},\"wordCount\":1867,\"commentCount\":7,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Auto Save\",\"Backups\",\"duplicate\",\"file versioning\",\"save\",\"Save As\",\"Time Machine\",\"versions\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Tech Tips\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/47415-auto-save-and-versions-an-often-overlooked-mac-feature\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/47415-auto-save-and-versions-an-often-overlooked-mac-feature\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/47415-auto-save-and-versions-an-often-overlooked-mac-feature\/\",\"name\":\"Auto Save and Versions: An Often Overlooked Mac Feature\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-02-18T22:26:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-02-20T00:52:57+00:00\",\"description\":\"Auto Save and file versioning have been part of the Mac OS for a while. 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