Version Control

286 votes

I'm a developer. I love git. I can't help it. The ability to track changes on a scene by scene or page by page level and looking back to see the exact changes is good history but also something that allows to go back to a prior version with minimal effort. And the ability to take a snapshot of a project at a given moment (draft 1) and then to start editing the same documents for draft 2 with minimal effort and never having to worry about losing draft 1. (syncing to github or other git repo a bonus)

Planned Editing Suggested by: AJ Hunter (01 Dec, '17) • Upvoted: 11 Apr • Comments: 27

Comments: 27

03 Dec, '17
Nina Light
Oh, yes!!! Being able to see past versions/edits of any part of text, with all annotations and changes through time, is of paramount importance for many of us... It is one of the things I love about WordPress, it keeps track of all drafts and changes. Please consider this as a priority... can I up vote it to the top...? ;-D
31 Dec, '17
Chet Sandberg
Yes! The way Scrivener does it is awkward and clunky, though. The way I write, I may want versions of each chapter after significant edits. This might need to be manual, though, because versioning every 30 secs would be crazy.
03 Jan, '18
Kristin
Yes this would be great, I almost accidentally saved over several paragraphs when my internet went out (and I didn't notice it hadn't saved) and I started editing again online on another computer the next day. It's nice to have MS Word's safety of letting you know that drafts are different for this reason (and for creating multiple edits as well). Just to put a mind at ease and make editing a smoother task.
08 May, '18
Miri
I support this! I think it'd be easy simply to clone the entire project (or at least the manuscript) and rename it to Project - Draft DATETIME. Having a dedicated system for backups could be complicated, but I feel like just a simple one would be valuable.
01 Nov, '18
Madeline
YES PLEASE. I try to do complete-ish drafts - first draft, second draft, third draft. Version tracking would be AMAZING
19 Feb, '19
David Weller
I love this suggestion and, if I may suggest, there's no reason you _can't_ use Git. It is actually ideally suited for this. Better still, it would give me the ability to share my work and let reviewers/editors make Pull requests back to me. That would be glorious.

Confusing to non Git people, but glorious, just the same :)
20 Apr, '19
Joanna VanDeWater
Yes! I'm in editing mode and deeply concerned that I am losing text I might want to add back in or put somewhere else. Considering going back to my Google docs because some of the features I use most often don't exist.
25 Nov, '19
J
Came to the feature suggestion page just to upvote this! Being able to set a snapshot would make editing so much easier.
02 Jan, '20
Kurt
I think a snapshot feature would be fantastic
02 Mar, '21
Brian
Is there even an ability to "save as"?

I couldn't find it.

This would at least allow us some crude semblance of versioning.

Not having any ability to "save as" is really backwards and needs to be fixed.
09 Jul, '21
Jim James
Versions, al a Descript, is a life saver. I can't believe it doesn't have more votes.
Current workflow one has to down load a file, and then if one makes edits in word they aren't reflected in Dabble. So it's a one way trip.
Then have to go back to Dabble and manually make edits.
Versions make the platform the only place to do the edits and will ensure greater user loyalty because all the versions will be in the system, not in my desktop.
29 Oct, '21
Mark
Regular auto saves and incremental versions, like Google Docs and Novlr would be great. A few times, I've cut a piece of text, forgotten to paste it somewhere else, and lost it.
03 Nov, '21
Destyne Smith Merged
Revision History
04 Nov, '21
JohnBredesen Admin
"Revision History" (suggested by Destyne Smith on 2021-11-03), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
20 Jan, '22
Karla
Versioning/revision history... definitely needed!!
19 Jul, '22
Allison Yancy Admin
"Restore Previous Versions" (suggested by Luna on 2022-07-13), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
04 Oct, '22
Laura
For the love of God, please add this. I am new to Dabble and lost writing because of the lack of it. I thought like Google Docs, that I'd be able to open a history and go back to a previous version...but no.
06 Nov, '22
Neil
This is really necessary. I like Dabble a lot, but if I leave it will be because this is missing. Constant autosaving plus no version history is a recipe for disaster if you accidentally delete something and for some reason can't undo. Pretty much every other web platform (Docs, MS suite, even 4thewords) has this.
08 Nov, '22
Raz0r7685
Biggest reason to stick with Scrivener—version control of a scene. I love Dabble's features (even the plot grid/plot line is better IMHO than Scrivener's corkboard, which is hard to do given how easy Scrivener's drag-and-drop is), but darn it—no version control for scenes/chapters combined with the Undo/Redo breaking if you navigate away to another part of the book briefly and then come back, this makes it unbearable at times.
18 Nov, '22
Alicia Wilkerson Admin
"Be able to save previous edits in a certain file" (suggested by Kirsten Orchard on 2022-11-05), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
17 Apr, '23
Alicia Wilkerson Admin
"Accessible Version History" (suggested by Ash on 2023-04-15), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
17 Apr, '23
Alicia Wilkerson Admin
"Adding a "Version History" with the list of changes and updates" (suggested by Ash on 2023-04-08), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.
30 Apr, '23
Don
As painful as this may be to implement it really is a critical feature for active writers. Knowing that you can blast through a writing session and the next day make significant changes without having to worry that some of what was just edited has disappeared forever is a big deal.
1
10 Nov, '23
Katie
Agree that this may be a deal breaker. I know I could duplicate the whole project and create a version that way but that leads to a lot of visual clutter and I’d rather Have a snapshot feature like Scrivener.
29 Dec, '23
Chet
I'm so happy with what you've done so far, but we really do need versioning of some sort. I imagine it will screw up the elegant and unbelievably robust syncing system, and I don't want versioning before it can be done without breaking that, but I agree it has to come to Dabble.
17 Jan
Ruby Smoke Merged
we need to ability to access our own previously synced cloud documents. i deleted something and had to go to help desk and wait several hours. the ability to see our own work would help immensely.
22 Jan
Alicia Wilkerson Admin
"ability to see previously synced manuscripts" (suggested by <Hidden> on 2024-01-17), including upvotes (1) and comments (0), was merged into this suggestion.