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Store records of changes to documents, so that unsuitable changes can be reverted. === What Problem This Solves === Content that is in-production may become corrupt, lost or changed for the worse, with no ability to revert to a previous version. === When to Use This Pattern === Although most web content management platforms offer revision/version-control for web content, a great deal of content is still written and edited - especially before publication - in Microsoft Word documents, or other files that exist outside of version control. Use this pattern if your organization produces content - in any part of the lifecycle - in offline documents or files without version control. === What's The Solution? === Implement a revision control system for in-production content. *[http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/ Sharepoint] offers a sophisticated version control system for Word documents, but may be too expensive for smaller operations. *More technical version control software such as [http://subversion.tigris.org/ Subversion] can be used for Word documents; although this can be made easier for users with software like [http://tortoisesvn.tigris.org/ TortoiseSVN], it can still be difficult and complex for non-technical users. *An easy, lightweight solution is to use [http://www.dropbox.com/features Dropbox], and place your Word documents into your local Dropbox folder. This service automatically records backups every time it detects a change (assuming you are online); the free account stores up to 30 days history, paid accounts can store unlimited changes. === Why Use This Pattern === Any negative changes to a document can be reverted to a previous version, without having to remember what the text used to say. Additionally, a full history of revisions can be made available, which can be useful if multiple authors or editors are working on the same document. Version control systems that store file revisions on remote/secondary servers (which most do) also provide a useful backup, if the primary computer with the document stored on it is lost, stolen or unavailable.<br> === Examples Gallery === [[Image:Dropbox-revision-control.png|thumb|left|Automatic revision control with Dropbox]]<br> === Categories === [[Category:Lifecycle]]
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