Version history

Every canvas document keeps a version history so you can save checkpoints as you work, look back at how the page used to read, see exactly what changed between two points in time, and — if you need to — revert to an earlier version.

Saving a version#

Open the document and click the page menu (the ·· · at the right edge of the meta bar above the title). Pick Version history to open the panel, then click Save version. Add a short label like "Reviewed with team" or "Q3 launch draft". Versions you save yourself are kept forever — they don't expire — so feel free to take one whenever you reach a milestone.

You can also let the document save versions automatically. Once every ten minutes of editing, the document quietly stamps an autosave version. Autosaves don't have a label, but they show up in the version list with a timestamp and the editors who were typing. Autosaves are kept for 30 days; saved versions you create yourself are kept forever.

Browsing versions#

Open the Versions panel from the page menu. You'll see every version newest first, with the label, who created it, and when. Click View on any non-current version to open a read-only preview that renders the document the way it looked at that point — headings, lists, tables, code blocks, and inline formatting all visible. You can scroll, copy text, and follow links, but you can't edit. Click All versions at the top of the panel to come back.

By default the list hides autosaves so the human-meaningful versions stand out. Toggle Show autosaves to see them too. Long histories load progressively as you scroll — you don't have to wait for the full list to download up front.

Comparing two versions#

In the Versions panel, hold Shift and click any version row — that becomes the selected anchor (highlighted in amber). Then Shift+ click any other row, and the panel switches to a side-by-side diff between the two:

• Inline text marked with a green background was added in the newer version.
• Inline text marked with a red background and a strikethrough was removed since the older version.
• Inline text marked with an amber background had only its formatting changed (e.g. an existing word became bold or italic).
• Whole blocks that were added, removed, moved, or transformed appear as labelled cards above the inline diff.

The diff is structural — it knows about block types, marks, and moves, so editing a single character in a paragraph doesn't read as "deleted the whole paragraph and added a new one"; it shows the actual character-level change inside the same block.

You can also click Compare on any non-latest row to compare that version against the most recent saved or autosaved version on the document, without picking an anchor first.

Reverting to a version#

Click Revert on any version in the list. You'll get a confirmation dialog explaining what's about to happen — once you confirm, the document jumps back to that version's content for everyone, immediately.

A few things to know:

• Anyone editing right now will be reset. If a teammate is mid- sentence when you revert, their unsaved keystrokes are lost. They'll see a banner saying "This document was reverted by Alice" so they know what happened. Coordinate before you revert if a co-worker is actively typing.
• The old versions don't disappear. v4 and v5 stay in the list even after you revert past them. You can still view them, diff against them, or revert to one of them later. Reverts are append- only — every revert adds a new entry to the history that points back at what it was reverting to and what came before.
• The whole document reverts. Revert is page-wide. There's no "revert just this paragraph" — for that, use the version-view preview to copy the text you want and paste it into the live page.

What gets tracked#

Each version captures:

• The page content at that moment — every block, mark, mention, attachment.
• Who created the version and when.
• For autosaves, which authors were typing in the window leading up to it.
• For reverts, which version was rolled back to and what was the previous head before the revert.

That's enough to answer questions like "who edited the migration plan between Tuesday's review and the Thursday rollout?" and "who reverted the introduction last week?".

Permissions#

Anyone who can edit the document can also save a version, view past versions, see the diff, and revert. There's no separate "history-only" or "revert-only" role to manage — version history inherits from the same access you already have on the page.