Versions & recovery

Versions preserve manuscript milestones. Automatic history provides additional checkpoints while you work. Both are separate from any ordinary Git repository you maintain for sharing code or sources.

Choose Save version in the editor header, next to Track changes, or open Review → Versions. Give the version a meaningful name such as “Before reviewer 2 revision” or “Camera-ready candidate”.

A named version preserves source and, when a matching successful build is available, that build's PDF. A source-only label means the version has no matching compiled PDF. Compile before saving when retaining an exact output is important.

You can also select an automatic checkpoint and choose Mark as saved version. This names that earlier source snapshot and retains its original PDF if it was successfully built. Your current draft stays in place.

Use named versions before substantial agent work, project-wide replacement, submission preparation or experimental formatting. Some guarded workflows, including table publishing and linked-result acceptance, create a checkpoint automatically before changing manuscript files.

Select two versions or compare a saved version with the working draft. Use the searchable file list and inspect one file at a time. Side-by-side and unified views show line locations and changed words. Optional data and assets can be included when relevant; saved JSON can be displayed as readable fields.

A source comparison explains what changed. In Compare, switch between LaTeX and PDF to inspect the rendered pages side by side, with linked scrolling. PDF comparison finds retained successful builds for the selected sources, including an identical source snapshot saved under a different checkpoint. An existing PDF from a different draft is not presented as the output of this version.

Highlight changes, on by default, marks the words removed on the left PDF and the words added on the right. Text that only moved to another page, page numbers, running heads and words split by a line-end hyphen are not marked, and a page where most words changed says Many changes on this page instead of covering it in boxes. Turn it off to stop VersoFold reading the two PDFs' text; the choice is remembered in this browser.

If a side has no matching PDF, choose Build this version. VersoFold compiles the saved sources in a temporary folder with the named version’s saved main file and engine; automatic checkpoints use the current build settings. Your working sources and current PDF stay unchanged. The resulting PDF is labeled Rebuilt from saved sources, since today’s installed packages may differ from those used originally. Missing captured dependencies or build errors appear with a build log. Build working draft saves pending edits and compiles the current project directly from History.

Choose Fullscreen in the header to expand History to the whole window. Exit fullscreen or Escape returns it to the smaller view without losing your comparison.

Select a saved version and choose Delete version…. Confirm the named entry you want to remove. This removes its name from Saved versions; it keeps your working files, automatic source checkpoints, and retained build artifacts. You can name a retained checkpoint again later. Shared readers cannot delete versions or compile historical sources.

Restore the intended file from a saved version or automatic checkpoint. Choose it in Compare or Saved files, then select Restore file. VersoFold checks that the current revision has not changed since the decision and creates a safety checkpoint. If another editor has changed the file, refresh the comparison and inspect the new state instead of forcing an old decision.

To put a whole version back, select it and choose Restore this version…. The confirmation lists each file it would replace or bring back and how many already match. Data and assets are included only when you tick Also restore data & assets. Your current files are checkpointed first, and files added since that version stay as they are: a restore never deletes. Figures that Figure Studio publishes are not restored from history, because an older copy would look like an outside edit and stop the next build; the build makes them again from the data instead.

For a partial recovery, inspect the historical passage and restore only what you need through normal editing. A whole-file restore can intentionally replace newer work; choose it only after reviewing the comparison.

If a restore or guarded update reports a conflict, keep your current draft, inspect the conflicting versions and retry from fresh evidence. Do not delete project metadata to dismiss the error.

Open Paper versions & variants in the history tools for alternative document entries. New shared variant previews an extraction: a simple single-file document can become a shared <entry>-body.tex with separate entry files/preambles. Later variants reuse that body. Changes to the common body affect the entries that include it. Complex or already split projects can use Register existing entry instead.

Create independent version copies captured sources into version/<name>/. This is an independent working copy, not an automatically synchronized branch. You can start from a frozen submission when preparing a revision. Entry files preserve the original relative-path context; the target list is recorded in version/manifest.json.

Set venue class, anonymity, bibliography style and page limits explicitly in each entry's preamble. A name such as “camera ready” does not change template settings. Build clean PDF, then Freeze snapshot, to preserve the matching original PDF. Changed sources/settings make a snapshot source-only instead of silently pretending the older PDF matches.

Build revision-marked PDF compares a fixed baseline with captured current sources using the bundled revision helper. Markup is generated in an isolated build directory; it does not rewrite live source. Inspect complex mathematics, figures, bibliography changes and custom macros carefully. Builds retain an exact source ZIP and build instructions; failed builds preserve previous successful artifacts.

Freezing a manuscript version is distinct from freezing a remote dataset or Figure Studio asset. The former preserves a writing milestone; the latter pins inputs or outputs used by builds. A reproducible submission often needs both source history and preserved data provenance.

For an independent folder copy, use Home → workspace menu → Make a copy. This is useful when you explicitly want another workspace rather than another historical state in the same one.

History lives in .versofold/history.git inside the manuscript folder. Older app-managed history can be migrated from the personal history location on first use. This private history repository is independent of the project's own .git repository.

Copy hidden project files when backing up or transferring a workspace. Also back up the personal reference library if you need attached literature and verification records; those may live outside the manuscript folder.

Recovery limit: missing historical Git objects cannot be recreated from a current file. VersoFold can offer the oldest available baseline, but that is not a reconstruction of lost versions.

Related: comments and review, Git and export, troubleshooting.