In this SharePoint Online tutorial, we will discuss SharePoint Online List Version History. We will cover:
- SharePoint Online List Version History
- Enable Versioning on SharePoint List
- Restore a Previous Version of a SharePoint List
- How to Delete Version History in SharePoint Online
- SharePoint View Version History Limit
- Use of Version History in SharePoint Online List
SharePoint Online List Version History
SharePoint Online List Versioning is a method to store, track history, restore, view items in lists, and also display recent changes in lists. It also helps the members to see how and when the files are modified. Each version of the list has the following:
- Version Number
- When the version was created (date & time)
- Who made the version (change)
How to Enable Versioning on SharePoint Online List
Here, we will see how to enable and configure versioning for the SharePoint online list.
- To do that, we have taken the SharePoint Online List.
- Click on Settings -> select List settings.
- In this Settings window, under General settings, select Versioning settings.
- In the Versioning Settings window, various options are there as listed below.
- Content Approval: It specifies whether new items or changes to existing items should remain in a draft state until they have been approved.
- Item Version History: Specifies whether a version is created each time you edit an item in this list. Also, helps limit the number of versions and drafts to retain.
- Draft item security: Drafts are minor versions or items not approved. It specifies who can view and edit drafts in this list.
- Click on the OK button as shown below.
This is how to enable version history in SharePoint.
Restore a Previous Version history of a SharePoint List
- For Example, we have selected an item from a SharePoint Online List and then Click on the … (ellipses) -> Select the Version history.
- In this Version History window, expand the item. We see three options
- View
- Restore
- Delete
- Select Restore -> A dialog box opens up asking, ‘You are about to replace the current version with the selected version.’
- Click on the OK button as shown below.
- Now, go back to the SharePoint Online List, home page -> Expand All items -> Select Approve/reject items.
- Now, the list shows all Approval Status -> Click on … ellipses (item to restore) -> Expand More -> Select Approve/Reject
- In this Approve/Reject window, we can see three Approval status options as listed below
- Approved = If we approved the status, then the item will become visible to all users.
- Rejected = If we rejected the status, then it will be returned to its creator and only visible to its creator and all users who can see draft items.
- Pending = If we keep the status pending, the item will remain visible to its creator and all users who see draft items.
- The site owner can access these operations only, who has full control of the SharePoint Online Site.
- I own this SharePoint Online site; I have selected Approved to restore the item (Trade Level Pricing) -> Click on the OK button.
- Now, the SharePoint list shows the item in the Approved section.
This is how we can restore a previous version of an item in SharePoint Online List Versioning.
How to Delete Version History in SharePoint Online
Here, we can see how to delete version history in SharePoint Online List.
- For Example, we have taken an item from a SharePoint Online List.
- Click on the … (ellipses) -> Select the Version history.
- In this Version History window, expand the item, we see three options
- View
- Restore
- Delete
- Select Delete -> A dialog box opens up asking ‘Are you sure you want to send this version to the site Recycle Bin?
- Click on the OK button as shown below.
- Now, go back to the SharePoint Online List, home page -> Expand All items -> Select Approve/reject items.
- Now, in the SharePoint list expand, Approval Status -> Click on … ellipses (item to delete) -> Expand More -> Select Approve/Reject.
- In this Approve/Reject window, we can see three Approval status options as listed below
- Approved = If we make the status as approved, then the item will become visible to all users.
- Rejected = If we rejected the status, then the item will be returned to its creator and only visible to its creator and all users who can see draft items.
- Pending = If we keep the status pending, then the item will remain visible to its creator and all users who see draft items.
- These operations can be accessed only by the site owner, who has full control of the SharePoint Online Site.
- Here, I own this SharePoint Online site, I have selected Approved to restore the item (Trade Sampling Program) -> Click on the Ok button.
- Now, the SharePoint list shows the item in the Approved section.
- Click on the Recycle Bin -> A recycle bin window opens, here, you can see the deleted item like below:
This is how we can delete a previous version of an item in SharePoint Online.
SharePoint View Version History Limit
In this SharePoint View version history limit, we will discuss how to change the SharePoint View Version History Limits.
Steps followed to change the version limit in the SharePoint Online List Version History.
- For Example, we have taken a SharePoint Online List -> Click on Settings icon -> Select List settings.
- In this Settings window, click on Versioning settings under General settings.
- This Versioning settings window shows the default number of the versions (50). Also, we can keep the draft of the following number of approved versions.
- If we want, we can change the number of versions and keep the drafts of the approved versions as per the needs.
- Now, you can see that we have changed the number of versions and also keep the same number of drafts of the approved versions.
This is how we can change the SharePoint view version history limits.
Use of Version History in SharePoint Online List
Reasons for using versioning in the SharePoint Online list are listed below.
- Track history of a version: We use the track history of a version to know when an item or file was changed and who changed it. We can also see when the information on the file gets changed.
- Restore a previous version: It is used when we make a mistake in a current version or we simply like a previous version better, then, we can replace the current version with a previous one so that the restored version becomes the new current version.
- View a previous version: Here, we can view a previous version without overwriting our current version.
Conclusion
Here, we have learned about the SharePoint Online List Version History from this tutorial, along with several other topics that are discussed, which are given below.
- SharePoint Online List Version History
- Enable Versioning on SharePoint List
- Restore a Previous Version of a SharePoint List
- How to Delete Version History in SharePoint Online
- SharePoint View Version History Limit
- Use of Version History in SharePoint Online List
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Preeti Sahu is an expert in Power Apps and has more than 6 years of experience working with SharePoint and the Power Platform. As a Power Platform expert for Power BI, Power Apps, Power Automate, Power Virtual Agents, and Power Pages, she is currently employed with TSinfo Technologies. She is the author of the book Microsoft Power Platform A Deep Dive. She also made a big technical contribution to SharePointDotNet.com in the form of articles on the Power Platform. She enjoys traveling and spending time with her family in her spare time.