A spec or a schedule gets revised. Upload the new one as a new version of the document and BuildersAI keeps them as one thing: the folder lists it once, at the version that is live, and the comments, the activity and the older issues stay attached underneath it. It is the same idea drawings have always had (see the “drawings” topic), brought to the rest of the Files area.
Why it matters: Before this there were two ways to revise a document and both were bad. Re-uploading made a second, unrelated row, so the folder held “M&E Spec.pdf” and “M&E Spec Rev C.pdf” and nothing said which one to build off. Deleting and re-uploading threw away the comment thread and the history along with the old file, so the argument about the riser sizes went with the revision it was about.
How to upload a new version:
- Open the document (press its name in Files)
- Press New version, top right
- Choose the revised file
- Press Upload as version 2 (or 3, or whatever is next)
BuildersAI numbers it, makes it the live one, and pushes the previous issue down into the history.
The quicker way, when you are uploading a batch: Drop files into a folder as usual. Any file whose name matches a document already in that folder is offered as a new version of it, ticked, with an amber note saying so. Untick it and it is filed as its own separate document instead, which is what the app did for everybody before versions existed. Nothing is decided behind your back.
Reading a document that has versions:
- The folder shows one row, carrying the version it is on (v3). A document nobody has revised carries no badge at all
- Open it and Versions sits above the conversation, listing every issue, who uploaded it and when, with the live one marked Current and the rest Superseded
- Press the eye on an older version to open it
Opening an old one tells you so. An amber line across the top of an older issue says “You are reading version 1 of 3. Version 3 is the current one”, with a button straight to the current one. It names the version you have as well as the one you want, because “this is out of date” on its own leaves you unsure whether you are one issue behind or five.
The conversation follows the document, not the upload: A comment stays attached to the version it was made against, for ever, and the viewer shows the whole document’s thread, with each older comment marked on v1. So “the riser sizes on sheet 3 do not match the drawing” is still there after two revisions, still readable as a remark about version 1, and the reply confirming it was sorted sits underneath it. Nothing is moved and nothing is rewritten.
The same file twice is refused: Upload bytes that are already the current version and BuildersAI says “This is the same file as version 3, byte for byte, so there is nothing to revise” and stops. A version list where three entries hold the same file has stopped meaning anything, and the usual way to get there is a double click or a re-sent email attachment. Going back to an older version’s file is allowed and counts as a new version, because what is current genuinely changes.
Who can see what: A document has one access tier and every version of it shares that tier, including the ones uploaded before it was set. Restrict a document to admins and the whole history goes with it; there is no way to reach an old issue of a file you cannot see. Setting the tier is still an admin’s job (see the “permissions” topic), and a member uploading a new version cannot widen it.
Deleting: A single version cannot be removed on its own, because a history missing a page is worse than no history. Deleting the document removes every version of it and every comment on them, and the confirmation says how many versions are going. Deleting a folder takes every document in it the same way, on the phone as in a browser, and its confirmation says how many earlier versions go with the files. That cannot be undone.
On the phone: You can see which version a document is on, read its history and open an older issue, so nobody on site builds off a superseded spec. Uploading a new version is done in a browser.
A document attached to a task is watched too: Attach a spec to a task and revise it later in Files, and the task says so: the attachment carries an amber v1 and a line reading “Version 3 is the current one”, with Open it straight through. The same is true of a comment attachment, and of a drawing that has been reissued. The attachment itself never changes, because it is the record of what the job was sent; see the “working_on_a_task” topic for attaching a drawing to a task in the first place.
Drawings are separate, and stay separate. Drawings already had revisions, filed under a drawing number, and they still work exactly as they did (see the “drawings” topic). What is described here is everything else: specs, schedules, method statements, reports.