Track document history with the Word version feature

If you want to record changes to Office documents, you can save multiple versions of the document in the same document. This method also saves disk space because Microsoft Word saves only the differences between versions rather than a full copy of each version. After you save several versions of a document, you can return to review, open, print, and delete earlier versions.

Save a version of a document

• Manual If at any time you want to save a "snapshot" of the current state of the document, you can save a version of the document. For example, you can save a version when you send a review, and then save a different version when you merge review revisions.

• Automatically enables Word to automatically save one version of a document each time you close the document. This is useful if you need to record the author and time of a document revision, such as for legal documents.

Save a version as a separate file

After you have saved multiple versions of the same document in one file, you can save a specific version as a separate file in the following two cases:

• When a document sent for review contains more than one version, but only the latest or specific version is sent. This method prevents reviewers from opening earlier versions of the document.

• If you want to compare an earlier version of a document with the current version. You can compare different documents by using the Compare and merge Documents command on the Tools menu.

Note Saving multiple versions is different from saving a backup copy of a document, and saving a backup copy is designed to confirm that no data loss or unintended changes occur. When the Save Backup feature is enabled, a newer backup of each save document replaces the original backup.

Prevent document version information from being lost

When you save a document as a Web page, Microsoft Word retains a large amount of original information, but does not save version information for the document. To save version information, save a copy of the file as a document before saving it as a Web page.