SharePoint 2010 : View Past Versions of Documents

To view the past versions of a specific document, select the document to switch to the Documents ribbon, and then click on the Version History button. Alternatively, you can open the drop-down menu for the file and choose Version History from the menu (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. The two options to view the versions of a file.

The version history dialog opens, showing past versions of the document (see Figure 2).

Figure 2. The Version History dialog, showing the three versions of a file.

By default, the Version History dialog displays the list of versions in the order of the version number, with the earlier versions at the bottom of the list. You can change the sort order by clicking on the header links of the version table.

The versions are shown as dates, representing the date the version was created. If you hover the mouse over one of these dates, you can open a menu for the document that allows you to view the version (see Figure 3).

Figure 3. The drop-down menu for a version appears if you hover over the date for that version and click the arrow. In the menu you can choose to view the selected version.