Documents
Versions, branches and restoring
How Spyral records every change to a Word document, how to find an earlier version, and how to put it back.
Only Word documents have versions
Version history exists for .docx files edited inside Spyral. PDFs and spreadsheets are stored exactly as they arrived and are never changed, so they have nothing to keep a history of.
Every change is recorded automatically
You never save a version by hand. Spyral writes one whenever the document changes:
- Each AI edit that is applied. In Auto mode that is every individual change the assistant makes. In Accept mode it is each change you accept.
- Each inline rewrite or comment made from the floating bubble on selected text.
- Your own typing and formatting, gathered into one version each time you pause for a moment, and again when you leave edit mode or navigate away.
- Restoring an earlier version, which is recorded as a new version containing the old content.
Versions are numbered v1, v2, v3 and so on. The current number is shown next to the file name at the top of the editor.
Each version carries a short description of what changed, such as "manual edit (3 changes)", "Replace text" or "Restored v4".
Nothing is ever destroyed by editing. Restoring an old version does not delete the newer ones. It adds the old content back as the newest version, and everything in between stays in the history.
Finding earlier versions
Version history is organised by editing session, not as one long list.
Open the editor and choose the branch icon in the header, next to Download and Print. A panel opens on the right titled Branches, with the subtitle "Each branch = one editing session."
Each card is one session. It shows the session's name, who worked in it, how many changes it contains, and whether it is active or closed.
Expand a card with the chevron to list the versions inside it. Each line shows the version number, what changed, when, and a Restore button.
The branch icon has no label. If you are looking for something called "version history", this is it.
Restoring a version
- Open the editor for the document.
- Open the Branches panel.
- Expand the session that contains the version you want.
- Choose Restore on that version.
The document goes back to that content, recorded as a new version. Your current content is preserved in the history and you can restore back to it the same way.
You need permission to edit documents in order to restore.
Switching between sessions
If a document has more than one session, an inactive one offers Switch to this branch. Spyral confirms first, warning that your next edit will start a new change on that session.
You may also see a banner telling you that a colleague is editing on a separate session. That is not an error. It means two people have been working on the same document in parallel, and each has their own line of changes.
To rename a session, double click its name and type a new one. Press Enter to keep it and Escape to cancel.
Double clicking is the only way to rename a session. There is no menu item and nothing on screen suggests it.
Limitations to know about
There is no way to compare two versions. Spyral will not show you what changed between v6 and v7 side by side. You can only open the descriptions, and restore a version to see its content.
If you need to compare, restore the older version, download it, then restore the newer one and compare the two files in Word.
Deleting a document deletes its entire history. Every version and every session go with it, permanently. There is no recovery. See The document detail view.
If something in the Branches panel fails, whether switching, renaming, closing or restoring, you get the same message regardless of what went wrong. Reload the page and try again, and contact us if it keeps happening.
The safety net for AI edits
In Auto mode the assistant applies its changes immediately and there is no undo button. The Branches panel is the recovery route: find the version from before the change and restore it.
If you would rather review each change before it lands, switch the chat panel to Accept changes. See Editing a document with AI.