File versions and formats in BackOps
How a BackOps file keeps every revision as a numbered version and every export of a version as a format, and how to add, view and delete them.
A BackOps file is one record that grows over time. Each revision is a version, and each version can hold several formats of the same content. Together they replace the v2_FINAL file names and the subfolder of exports that production files usually turn into.
Versions
The first upload is Version 1. Each new upload to the same file becomes the next number, Version 2, Version 3 and so on, named automatically. The newest version is the current one, and earlier versions stay available.
Comments and reviews belong to a version. When Version 3 goes up, the conversation about Version 2 stays with Version 2, and reviewers are asked to look at Version 3 fresh. See reviews and comments.
Open the file
Add the version
To look at an older version, pick it from the Versions list. Delete version removes a version and all its formats permanently; it needs Edit or Admin access to the file, and the last remaining version cannot be deleted. There is no way to promote an older version back to current except uploading it again as a new version.
Formats
A lighting plot often exists as a Vectorworks file, a PDF for review and a DWG for the venue. In BackOps these are formats of one version rather than three files.
Open the version
Add the format
When someone downloads the file, they choose the format they need. Formats the browser can show, such as PDFs and images, preview on the file page; others show that no preview is available and can be downloaded. Delete format removes one format permanently; the last format on a version cannot be deleted.