Restore asset versions

Learn how to view and restore previous asset versions.

Introduction

Every time you save an asset, censhare creates a new version of that asset (versioning). All versions of the asset can be found on the "History" tab of an asset page. You can switch between different views there, compare versions based on their preview images, or restore earlier asset versions anytime you wish.

If you have edited the properties of multiple assets simultaneously, then it depends on your censhare configuration whether a new asset version is created or not when you save changes.

For every version of the asset, the "Versions" widget shows detailed change information as well as a preview of the version, if possible. Here you can restore earlier asset versions with just a click. To decide whether and which version you wish to restore, display the contents of the master file of two versions of the asset as a preview in the "Compare versions" widget and enlarge the details in the preview.

censhare captures changes in the asset details and in the master file. If you relate an asset with other assets or delete these relationships, they are not considered changes to the asset. They are therefore not shown here.

All actions to an asset like Open, Save or Close as well as content updates, even from data within the version that is not relevant to memory, are logged by censhare in the "History" widget along with other details.

Via the action menu of the higher-ranking tab "History" you can add, delete or move widgets in order to show or hide other information on the respective asset. For more information see Working with asset details.

Show asset versions

The "Versions" widget (1) under "History" displays the versions of an asset. version number (2), user who made the changes (3), changes compared to the previous version (4), date and time of the changes (5). If you move the cursor to the version number of an asset version, the button "RESTORE" (6) will appear at the end of the line. Click this button to restore the selected asset version. This version is then saved as the current version with a new version number.

censhare uses the "Versions" widget to display the versions of an asset. The latest versions with the highest version numbers are at the top. You can add the widget to tabs other than the one for History. It shows the different asset versions in a list.

The type and content of the changes are listed for every version. Based on the symbol you can tell whether the displayed data was changed, deleted or added.

The following icons are used:

Change type	Symbol
	Edited, with change details
	Edited, without change details
	Added
	Deleted

Next to the icon is a description of the changed data. The display varies depending on the type of information changed.

If the master file of an asset changes or is added, the preview image of the file is displayed on the "Versions" widget. censhare automatically generates the preview image from the master file. If the master file is deleted, no preview image can be shown anymore.

For layout, video or audio assets, the preview widget does not just show a simple preview image. Instead, you can actually play the film, listen to the recording or flip through the pages of the layout.

If you are looking for a certain version of an image, layout, video or audio asset, you can use the preview widget to have a closer look at different versions of the master file. You don't have to restore them for each one.

If no preview image can be automatically generated for an asset, you can assign one using the Assigned preview widget. This type of preview image is not automatically updated after changes, however. Since this is a relation to the asset, changes are not captured in the version overview.

Compare asset versions

You can compare the preview images of different asset versions with one another. This allows you to easily track changes or more quickly decide which version of an asset should be restored.

To compare different versions, a master file with a preview image must be available for an asset and changes must have been made to the master file already.

The "Compare versions" widget (1): The content of the selected versions (2) is displayed in both of the preview widgets (3) The image detail can be customized for the widget (5) as well as enlarged or reduced in size using the zoom (4). "Sync" (6) synchronizes the zoom feature for both images.

Click "Compare versions" to compare the versions. Two preview widgets will be displayed next to each other. The left side shows the preview image for the current asset version and the right side shows the previous version. Above the images are the names of the users who created the version along with the date and time of the changes. You can compare the preview images of different versions with each other by choosing the desired version from the list beneath "Select version" on the left and right. Only those versions will be available for selection that have had changes made to the master file, for example in the sizing or resolution of an image.

The size of the preview image can be changed. You can display the preview images such that the entire width of the preview window is filled or exactly the preview window itself. In addition, you can either enlarge or reduce the previews by selecting a percentage value in the "Auto" field for each column or by turning the mouse wheel on the preview image up or down. If you select "Sync" above the right preview image, both preview images will be simultaneously enlarged or reduced in size when you zoom in or out on the left image.

For multipage layouts, you can leaf through the preview pages in the comparison view and compare the layouts with each other page-by-page.

Restore asset versions

To restore asset versions, switch to the "Versions" widget. Move the cursor over the desired version number there. At the end of the line, you'll see the button RESTORE. To restore an asset version, click the button and confirm with "OK". This version is then saved as the current version with a new version number.

Show asset history

The "History" widget provides you with an overview of the entire history of an asset right up to the present. For every version you'll also find additional information for the actions carried out on an asset:

• Date/time of the action

• Asset version

• Type of action: actions like Open, Save and Close for an asset are logged, as well as Delete for a version and any updates. Updates also include changes to relationships, such as "Parent relation (user.) created to asset (asset ID)". The following information is displayed for relation actions:

  Note: No version information is displayed in the table for unversioned relations.

  • Relation direction

  • Relation type ID

    For information on this, see the censhare Admin Client under "Master data" in the "Asset relation types" list.

  • Asset-ID

  • Action for relation, such as created, updated, deleted

• Users who carry out the changes.

• Name and version of the module with which the action was carried out: for example "censhare Web-Client 2017.0" for censhare Web or "censhare Client 4.2017.1" for the censhare Java Client. 

• Description and transaction ID for the various actions