This article explains how to go back to a version of your site, saved at each publication. You will be able to browse a site version, put it back online or pick it up in your Staging.
Before you start
- Restoring a site version requires the same rights as publishing: the Administrator role and the Can publish option.
- A site version is the whole site as it was online just before a publication: content, design and settings. Each publication saves one.
- The site keeps the five most recent versions. Beyond five, each publication erases the oldest one.
- A site version contains neither your form requests nor your analytics. Restoring neither erases them nor brings them back.
A site version applies to the whole site. To go back on a single page, open that page’s revisions in the editor.
Open the version history
- In the admin bar of your Staging, open the Publish menu.
- Click Version history. The screen of the same name opens.
The table starts with the Production (live) row, the site your visitors see. Your site versions follow, from the most recent to the oldest.
| Column | Content |
|---|---|
| Source | The version number. Version 1 carries the label latest. The one you are browsing carries the label live on the backup site. |
| Created | The date and time of the publication that saved the version. The version shows the site as it was just before that publication. |
| Actions | The version’s buttons, described in the following sections. |
Version 1 is your site from before the last publication. Restoring it to Production cancels the last publication.
No button acts on the first click. A box opens under the button and says what the action replaces and what is lost. Click the button in the box, which carries the name of the action, to run it, or Cancel to close the box without changing anything.
Browse a version before restoring it
The Backup, the third copy of your site, lets you browse a version without touching your Staging or your Production.
- On the version’s row, click View live on backup, then the button of the same name in the box that opens. The message Version loaded on the Backup. Open it from the toolbar. appears.
- In the admin bar, open the Publish menu then click View backup website. The site opens in a new tab, as it was in that version.
The Backup shows one version at a time. After each publication, it shows version 1.
Cancel a publication in Production
To put the site from before a problem back online, restore the version to Production.
- On the version’s row, click Restore on production. A box opens under the button.
- Read the warning, then click Restore on production in the box.
- Wait for the operation to finish. The message Restored to Production. appears.
Your content, your design and your settings go back together to that version. Your site stays open during the operation. Everything that can fail is checked before anything changes online. If a problem occurs while the files are put back, Production returns to its previous state.
Restoring Production puts back in force the texts of your legal documents from that version. Find a past edition explains how the editions record it.
Pick up a version in the Staging
To fix a version before putting it back online, load it into your Staging.
- On the version’s row, click Restore on staging, then the button of the same name in the box that opens.
- Wait for the message Restored to Staging.
- Fix the version in your Staging.
- Publish your site.
The Restore on staging button on the Production (live) row copies the live site into your Staging. You pick up exactly what your visitors see.
Read the screen’s messages
| Message | Meaning |
|---|---|
| An operation is already running on this site. Reload the page to follow it. | A publication, a restore or an export is already running. Only one operation runs at a time on a site. Wait for it to finish, then try again. |
| The action failed. | The restore did not happen. Try again, then write to us if the failure repeats. |
| No version saved yet. A version is created at each publication. | Your site has never been published. |
Each restore enters your site’s history, for example Restored version 2 to Production or Copied Production to Staging.
Go back further than five versions
Your site is backed up every night outside its server. The last 35 nights are kept in full. To go back further than your five versions, write to us: we put your site back as it was on one of those nights.