How To Configure Versioning in SharePoint 2010

Click on the link Shared Documents in the Quick Launch Bar from the home page of a team site.

I click on the Library tab in the ribbon in order to activate the icons that correspond with managing the container (the Shared Documents Library)

Click on the Library Settings Icon in order to get to the Shared Documents Library Settings Page

Next, choose the Versioning Settings link in the General Settings section of the Shared Documents Library Settings Page.

I select the radio button to create major and minor (draft) versions. In this blog we won't be setting a limit on the number of major versions or the number of major versions we will keep minor versions for. It is important to have well planned governance on these settings because of the way SharePoint stores each version. Every major and minor version is kept in its entirety in the Content Database, not just the changes so this can cause a push towards the storage quota if not monitored and planned.

With the settings ready, click OK.

To test it, click the Shared Documents Link in the Quick Launch.

This time I click on the Documents tab in the ribbon to activate the icons that will allow me to interact with the actual library items.

Click on the New Document Icon (I always aim for the black triangle) and choose New Document

Click OK to the warning Dialog.

Enter some content; when Word opened, I was prompted for credentials so I logged in. Now I use the =rand() function to add some content. (I type in =rand() and hit enter.

Then save the document.

Check the location in the Save As Dialog and verify that it's saving back to the Shared Documents Library and click the Save button.

I want to see the currently version of the document so I will click the Library tab in order to activate the ribbon to show the icons that relate to managing the container.

Click the Modify View Icon in order to modify the current view.

Select the box next to the Version Column Name then click OK. (click OK not shown)

SharePoint displays that the Version is 0.1 which is expected.

Click on the document link in order to open it up in Word for an edit.

When the Open Document Modal Window opens, choose Edit and click OK.

Add Version 1.0 to the document and then select the File Tab.

Note the Manage Versions Button in Microsoft Office 2010. This is called the backstage area where you can actually interact with many of the properties etc.. that are available when working with SharePoint 2010 and Microsoft Word 2010.

Choose Save and then Exit. If prompted, when exiting, choose Save.

I verified that the version change to 0.2 but I want it to be a major version so I’ll choose Publish a Major Version.

Mouse-over the document and select the drop down (ECB edit control block) menu and choose Publish a Major Version.

Enter some comments and then click OK.

We can now verify that the document version is now 1.0. Normally, when configuring versioning, it is done in conjunction with Check In – Check Out being required. However, in this blog post, we concentrated on setting up major and minor versioning only.