Version control for drawings

Version control is available for all drawing types allowing you to review what a drawing was at a certain stage. You can list different versions of the same drawing, open drawing versions, show their snapshots, and change the current drawing version. You can list drawing versions in other models, and deleted drawing versions that are no longer available in Document manager. You can also open a deleted GA drawing as a new drawing.

Listing drawing versions is useful when you want to revert to an older version of the drawing for some reason. Version control is also available in Tekla Model Sharing, and you can control unintentional changes made to drawings and revert to the version that has the correct content.

Every time you save a drawing, a new version of the drawing is saved as a .dg file.

The advanced option XS_DELETE_UNNECESSARY_DG_FILES defines if the unnecessary drawing files (.dg files) are automatically deleted or not. To automatically delete the drawing files that are no longer used, set XS_DELETE_UNNECESSARY_DG_FILES to TRUE.

The XS_DELETE_UNNECESSARY_DG_FILES_SAFETY_PERIOD advanced option defines how long the drawing files are kept before they are deleted. The default safety period is 7 days. This means that after 7 days, the drawing files that are not used are deleted when the XS_DELETE_UNNECESSARY_DG_FILES advanced option is set to TRUE.

If you want to keep all drawing versions, set XS_DELETE_UNNECESSARY_DG_FILES to FALSE.
Note that using Save as does not always contain needed drawing history data and drawing update may fail.

Open the drawing versions list

To list the different versions of a drawing in the current model, click Document manager on the Drawings & reports tab, select a drawing from the list and click the Drawing versions button at the bottom.

The current drawing version appears bolded.

The drawing snapshot is displayed in a separate window. A snapshot is taken automatically by default when you save a drawing. The advanced option to control the automatic saving of snapshots is XS_DRAWING_SNAPSHOT_CREATION.

Snapshots are not created at drawing creation if the advanced option XS_CREATE_SNAPSHOT_ON_DRAWING_CREATION is set to FALSE. If you open a drawing and save it, you get a snapshot if XS_DRAWING_SNAPSHOT_CREATION is set to TRUE.
To list all drawings and their versions related to the model, even the deleted drawings, go to Document manager, and click Drawing versions without selecting a drawing in the Document manager list. In this Drawing versions dialog box, you can see the drawing versions, open deleted GA drawing versions as new GA drawings, open the different versions, and show their snapshots.

What can you do with drawing versions


To	Do this
Open a drawing version	In the Document manager list, select a drawing and click the Drawing versions button at the bottom. Right-click a drawing version. Select Open.
Show snapshot for a drawing version	In the Document manager list, select a drawing and click the Drawing versions button at the bottom. Right-click a drawing version. Select Show snapshot.
Save another drawing version as the current version	In the Document manager list, select a drawing and click the Drawing versions button at the bottom. Open another version of the drawing. Close the drawing version. When you are asked Do you want to keep the changes to the drawing?, answer Yes. This makes the drawing version the current drawing version.
Open a deleted GA drawing version as a new GA drawing	Click the Drawing versions button without selecting a drawing in the Document manager list. Select a deleted GA drawing version from the list on the right in the Drawing versions dialog box, right-click and select Open as new.
Show drawing versions from another model	Click the Drawing versions button without selecting a drawing in the Document manager list. The drawings in the current model are listed. In the upper-left corner, browse to the folder of the other model, and click Select folder. The drawings in the other model are listed on the left, and their versions on the right.
Keep the selected drawing versions	As drawing versions might be defined to be automatically removed, you might want to protect some versions from the removal. In the Document manager list, select a drawing and click the Drawing versions button at the bottom. Select the check box in the Always necessary column next to the drawing versions that you want to protect from the removal.

Below is an example of comparing drawings in two models: in the current model and in the model that you select in the upper left corner of the Drawing versions dialog box. In the dialog box, you can clearly see which drawings are in which model. The drawing versions are listed on the right.

Drawing versions in Tekla Model Sharing

In Tekla Model Sharing, when users modify the same drawing in their local version of the model and one user writes out, the Changes list shows a conflict in other users' local version of the model when they read in.
You can open the Drawing versions dialog box from the Changes list. Select the changed drawing, right-click and select Open versions to view the drawing versions and the changes made to the drawing.
To keep the number of drawing files reasonable, use the XS_DELETE_UNNECESSARY_DG_FILES and XS_DELETE_UNNECESSARY_DG_FILES_SAFETY_PERIOD advanced options.
If you want to protect some of the drawing versions from being automatically removed when XS_DELETE_UNNECESSARY_DG_FILES is set to TRUE, use the Always necessary check box in the Drawing versions dialog box. Set the Always necessary option individually for each drawing version you want to keep by selecting the corresponding check box.