--- title: "View and restore an earlier version of a working agreement" description: "Every working agreement in Talkspirit keeps its published versions. Open Version history from the document menu to see the list and restore an earlier version." category: structure-governance section: policies-and-publications type: Tutorial lastUpdated: 2026-08-05 locale: en canonical: https://support.talkspirit.com/en/structure-governance/publications-version-history --- # View and restore an earlier version of a working agreement ## View and restore an earlier version of a working agreement Every time a working agreement is published, the text it replaces is kept. **Version history** lists those versions and lets you put an earlier one back in place. It lives in the document's own menu, not in a separate app. Working agreements are the documents listed under **Structure** > **Working agreements**. Your organisation may call them something else, because the word is part of the configurable vocabulary. For what they are and how they are organised, see [Working agreements overview](../structure-governance/publications-overview). ## How do I open version history? 1. Go to **Structure** > **Working agreements** and click the row of the document you want. 2. Click **Full page** to open it (version history also opens from the preview, but the panel has more room on the full page). 3. Click the **three-dot menu** in the top right, then **Version history**. ![The three-dot menu of a working agreement open, showing Copy URL, Version history, Hide comment highlights and Discard draft changes](/images/structure-governance/publications-version-history/01-open-version-history.png) The panel opens in the right-hand column, below the document information. Click the cross in its header to close it again. Anyone who can open the working agreement can open its version history. For a public working agreement that is everyone in the organisation. For a private or restricted one it is the members of the owning circle or role, the people it has been shared with, the person who created it, and administrators. ## What does the list show? Each entry gives a version number and how long ago that version was created, for example *about 1 hour ago*. There is a **Restore** button on every entry except the one at the top. ![The Version history panel listing Version 4 marked as Current, then Version 8, Version 9 and Version 10, each with a Restore button](/images/structure-governance/publications-version-history/02-version-history-panel.png) Two things about this list are worth knowing before you use it: - **It is ordered oldest first.** The most recent version is at the bottom, and the entry labelled *(Current)* is the one at the top. Read the times, not the position or the label, to find the version you want. - **The numbers skip.** Each time you save while editing, a new numbered draft is created, and publishing clears the drafts below it. The published versions that survive therefore keep the numbers they were given, and gaps are normal. The panel does not show who wrote each version, and it has no side-by-side or highlighted comparison between two versions. To see what a version contains, restore it. ## How do I restore an earlier version? You need to be able to manage the document: you created it, you hold administrator access to it through its circle or role, or you are an organisation administrator. Without that, the entries are listed but no **Restore** button appears. 1. Open **Version history** as above. 2. Click **Restore** on the entry you want. 3. Confirm with **Restore** in the dialog. ![Confirmation dialog reading Restore version? The current draft will be replaced by this version. This cannot be undone, with Cancel and Restore buttons](/images/structure-governance/publications-version-history/03-restore-version-confirmation.png) The restored text is published straight away, so there is no separate publishing step to complete. Nothing is removed from the history: the restore is added on top as a new version, and the one you restored from stays in the list. Any unpublished draft you had on the document is replaced, which is what the dialog warns about. ## How do I compare what is published with what I am editing? When a working agreement has changes that have not been published, the header shows **Edit** with a **Pending draft** label next to it. Click the arrow beside that button to switch between the two. ![The Edit button carrying a Pending draft label, with its arrow open on a View draft menu item](/images/structure-governance/publications-version-history/04-view-draft-or-published.png) The menu offers **View draft** while you are on the published text, and **View published** once you are looking at the draft. Publishing the draft is what turns it into the next entry in version history. ## What's Next? - [Working agreements overview](../structure-governance/publications-overview) - [Publications Collaborative Edition](../structure-governance/publications-collaborative-edition) - [What are Decision Settings?](../structure-governance/what-are-decision-settings) - [Publications & Processes](../structure-governance/publications-processes)