Viewing and restoring file versions using Content Station Aurora

When saving a file in a particular format to Enterprise, a version of that file is saved. When needed, this version can be restored to make it the current version.

This article describes how to view and restore file versions using Content Station Aurora and provides background information about the concept of file versions in Enterprise.

Figure: Viewing versions of a file in Content Station Aurora.

Viewing and restoring versions

Viewing and restoring file versions in Content Station Aurora is done through the History panel (see image above).

Note: In Content Station version 11.11 and older, this panel was named 'Versions'.

Viewing and restoring file versions in Content Station Aurora is done through the History panel of the Search results page¹ (see image above) or the History panel in the Digital editor².

¹ In Content Station version 11.11 and older, this panel was named 'Versions'.

² Requires Content Station 11.13 or higher.

After selecting a file in the Search results page or when working on an article in the Digital editor, the History panel shows the current versions and all previous versions of that file (if any, and up to a defined maximum, see below).

The menu of each version contains the following options:

• Preview (available in Search results only)
• Download original
• Restore (not available for the current file version) Using this option restores the version as the current version.

Comparing the content

An article typically goes through many changes made by multiple people. Verifying which changes were made can be practical (and even important), for example as part of an audit trail.

For more information about comparing different versions of an article, see:

• Comparing Digital articles in Content Station Aurora
• Comparing Print articles in Content Station Aurora

File types for which versions are saved

A version of a file is saved for the following file types:

• InDesign layouts
• InDesign layout templates
• Layout Modules
• Layout Module templates
• InDesign libraries
• Digital articles
• Digital article templates
• Print articles
• Print article templates
• InCopy articles
• InCopy article templates
• Text files (plain and HTML)
• Images
• Videos
• Audio files

Note: Saving a version of a file can be done by any user of Enterprise, including users of InDesign and InCopy; it is not restricted to users of Content Station Aurora.

When is a version stored?

A version of a file is stored when one of the following actions take place:

• Check-in
• Save Version
• Changing the Workflow Status (off by default, only when enabled by your administrator)

Number of versions available

By default, a specific number of versions are stored per file type.

File type	Number of versions saved by default
Layout Module	5
Layout Module template	5
Article	10
Article template	10
Library	5
Audio objects	5
Video objects	5
Image objects	5

When the maximum number of versions for a file type is reached, the oldest version is removed to make place for the newest version.

Example: 10 versions of an article are saved: versions 1 to 10. The next time an article is saved, the oldest version (version 1) is removed to make room for the newly saved version.

Note for system administrators: These values can be changed by configuring Enterprise Server.

About version numbers

All version numbers are presented in a “major.minor” notation.

Example: Version '1.2' means major version '1' and minor version '2'.

Each time a file is saved, either the major version number or the minor version number is increased (depending on how the system is configured).

Document history

• 3 December 2020: Added section 'What is not restored?'.