Versions and revisions

A document has versions. A-101 Floor Plan is the document; Rev A, Rev B and Rev C are versions of it.

Getting this right is what makes everything downstream work.

Every version is kept, newest first, with what changed in each.

Uploading a revision

1. Open the current version of the document.
2. Click New version.
3. Drop the new file in (or click to choose it), check the Revision (it is filled in with the next one - B becomes C) and say what changed - “Rev C - alfresco extended 1 m, window W4 deleted”.
4. Click Upload as v4 (the number is the next one).

If anyone was sent an older revision - on a transmittal, by a share link, or with a purchase order that has gone out - a list of them opens straight away, with one button to issue them the new revision. See Re-issuing a superseded drawing.

Editing a spreadsheet without Excel

A window schedule or a quantity sheet often needs one number changed. Excel files (.xlsx and .xls) can be edited right on the Documents page:

1. Open the spreadsheet and click Edit at the top.
2. Change what you need - it works like Excel: cells, formulas, formatting, several sheets.
3. Say what changed in the box at the bottom - “W4 height changed to 2700”.
4. Click Save or Save as new version - see below.

There are two ways to save:

Button	What it does	When you can use it
Save	Saves your changes into this file. The editor stays open, so you can carry on and save again.	Only while nobody outside the company has been given this file, and the editor can keep everything in it.
Save as new version	Your edit becomes the next version, exactly as if you had uploaded it with New version - the old one is kept under Versions, orders not yet sent move to the new one, and anyone holding the old one is offered the new one.	Always.

Save is greyed out, with the reason shown, when this file was issued on a transmittal, sent with a purchase order, put in a tender package, shared by a link or shown to the client in the Client Portal. Those people have this copy, and it has to stay on record as what they were given - so your changes go in as a new version instead. It is also greyed out for an older .xls file and for a file with something the editor can’t keep (below).

Every Save is listed on the file’s History tab with who and when. The copy it replaced is kept for 30 days - if someone saves over the wrong figures, ask SmarteBuild support to put it back. The editor’s own save button does the same as Save when it is allowed, and makes a new version when it is not.

What the online editor can’t keep

Charts, pictures, pivot tables, macros, comments, shapes and links to other workbooks are dropped from the edited copy. If the spreadsheet has any of them, the editor lists them before you start. When you need them, download the file, edit it in Excel and upload it with New version instead. An older .xls file is saved back as .xlsx.

Word documents show in the preview but can’t be edited here - download, edit in Word and upload with New version. A file over 25 MB, or a sheet with more than about 300,000 cells, opens in Excel only.

The new copy keeps the document’s title, folder, note and auto-attach settings. The old one is kept as an old version - hidden from the list unless Show old versions is ticked, and still on the Versions tab.

Purchase orders that have not been sent yet switch to the new copy, so an order going out tomorrow carries the current drawing. Orders already sent keep the copy they were sent with - that is the record of what the supplier was given.

New version is on the latest version only

Open an old version and the page says so, with a link to the latest. Upload the new revision onto that one.

Two copies uploaded separately?

It happens - someone uploads Rev C as a brand-new file. Link them rather than living with two unrelated files:

1. Open the newer file.
2. On Details, under Uploaded separately?, click Link to an earlier file…
3. Pick the earlier copy and click Link as previous version.

The earlier one becomes the previous version and the newer one takes the next version number, exactly as if it had been uploaded with New version.

Why it matters

Three things depend on the relationship between versions.

Take-Off carry-over. Open a drawing you have measured on when a newer revision exists, and Take-Off offers to bring every measurement forward, flagged for review. That only works because it knows the two files are the same drawing. See Drawings, revisions and export.

The Take-Off picker hides superseded revisions by default, so you cannot accidentally measure last month’s drawing.

Orders and tenders send what is current, so a package going out after a revision carries the new drawing.

Uploading a revision as a new document breaks all three

You get two unrelated files, no carry-over offer, both showing in the picker, and no indication which is current. If it has happened, link them as above.

What to do when drawings change

A sequence that works:

1. Upload the new revision with New version on the existing document.
2. Say what changed - from the architect’s revision cloud or transmittal.
3. Open Take-Off and accept the carry-over.
4. Review the carried measurements against the new drawing. Adjusting one clears its flag; confirm the ones still correct.
5. Check the BOQ for quantities that have moved.
6. Raise a variation if the change is the client’s and the job is under contract.
7. Revise or void any orders affected.
8. Re-issue the new revision to everyone holding the old one - the list opens when you upload it, and includes suppliers on sent orders. Re-issue any tender still out on the old drawing too.

Steps 6 to 8 are the ones missed under pressure, and they are the expensive ones. A drawing change is rarely just a drawing change.

Say what changed

Use the issuer’s revision letter or number in What changed in this version - Rev C - ..., not latest or new one. It is shown against each version on the Versions tab, so the history reads like a transmittal.

Old versions are worth keeping

Do not delete an old version. It is the evidence of what was issued when.

The question it answers is a real one: “you priced this off Rev B, which showed a timber deck - Rev D changed it to concrete, which is why there is a variation.” That argument needs Rev B to exist.

If you do delete the newest version by mistake, the previous one becomes current again.

Which revision was priced?

Worth recording, in the estimate name or a note, which revision an estimate was built on: Tender - Rev A drawings.

When the client asks why the price has changed, the answer is usually that the drawings did - and being able to name the revision you priced makes that a fact rather than an assertion.