Document Versioning & Approvals

Overview

To get started with the Document Management consider reading this article first: Document Management.

Ensure your team is always working off the latest version. Upload new versions of documents and see version history, to track all changes and updates throughout your project.

If you need to sign-off on a document, you can send it to team members for approval.

How to access Document Management

• Webapp
• Mobile

Document Versioning

For each file it is possible to store multiple versions in PlanRadar. Each file has a name which can be changed and for each version metadata is maintained including:

• Version index
• Original filename
• Creator
• Creation date
• Size

Versioning is only available for files in All files (it is not available for files in Documents by layers).

Current Version

For each file there is a current version, which is the file version that is opened when the file is clicked or downloaded. Metadata in the files list and in the file details tab is always referring to the current version.

The current version is the

• latest approved version, if there is any approved version, otherwise it is the
• most recent version.

File Operations and Versioning

When moving a file to another folder, into trash or when restoring it from trash, the whole file with all its versions is moved.

When a file with versions is deleted permanently from trash, all its versions are deleted as well. Instead of deleting the whole file, it is also possible to delete a specific file version.

When duplicating a file with versions only the current version is used for the new file ignoring any other version.

Read more in Create & Manage File Versions.

File Approvals

File approvals are always requested for specific versions of files and as part of an approval request.

An approval request has one or more items to review, one or more reviewers, a subject, an optional message and a due date. This way it is possible to request approval for multiple files at once.

You can request approval for up to 100 items at once per approval request.

The following items cannot be added to approval requests:

• Files already pending approval for another version
• Folders
• Files under Documents by layers

Reviewers need to have access to all items. If access control is enabled they need to be at least Viewer. Read more in File/Folder Access Control

Reviewers will get notifications about new approval requests and reminders for due dates three days in advance.

Once sent, the approval request cannot be modified. It can only be cancelled.

While an approval is pending for a version of a file, it is not possible to request approval for another version of the same file at the same time.

Status of Approval Requests

You can find all approval requests in Document Management under the section Approval Requests. Their status is one of the following:

• Pending: some items are still pending feedback from reviewers
• Complete: all items have been approved or rejected by the reviewers
• Cancelled: approval request got cancelled

Approval Status of Files

The approval status of a file has one of the following states:

• None (-): no approval has been requested for the file
• Pending: approval is pending
• Approved: version got approved
• Rejected: version got rejected

If a file version is pending approval, the status is determined in the following way:

• If all reviewers approved, the status is Approved.
• If one reviewer rejected, the status is Rejected. However, other reviewers can still send their feedback.

Approvals and Current Version

The file version number and approval status are shown for the current version in the file list, file details tab and versions tab.

If a file is approved (e.g. V1 is approved and the current version) and then a newer version is pending approval (e.g. V2) it is indicated besides the approval status in the file list (e.g. current version showing as V1 and approval status as "Approved (V2 pending)").

If the version or approval status columns are not visible in the file list, click the file table's gear icon and ensure that you have configured the table to show these columns.

Remember, in the file list and file details the status is shown for the current version as defined above. Hence, status Rejected will only show there if no approved version exists yet.

File Operations and Approvals

Moving and renaming files pending approval is allowed. However, it is not possible to move
a file to trash if it is pending approval. Duplicating is allowed; the new file will have no association with the pending approval.

Read more in Create & Manage File Approval Requests and Review Files.