Foldr doesn’t keep its own copy of your files on most storage. It shows the versions the storage itself keeps. SharePoint keeps a version each time a file is saved, for example, and a Windows file server keeps shadow copies. Foldr puts that history in one panel, so it looks and works the same wherever the file lives.
Foldr Storage (the storage Foldr Cloud hosts for you) is the exception: there, Foldr keeps the versions itself.
Open a file’s history
- Right-click the file and choose Versions.
- The panel lists the versions newest first, with when each was saved. Where the storage records who saved a version, the row says Saved by and their name.
If the panel says This storage keeps no versions, the storage behind that share has none to show. See the table below.
In a document open in Foldr Bureau, the same history is in the side panel, on the Version history tab.
Preview an earlier version
Click Preview this version on a row. The file opens read-only, with a banner saying which version you’re looking at. The file itself isn’t changed. From the banner you can compare that version with the current file, or close it.
Compare a version with the current file
For Word (.docx), OpenDocument text (.odt) and Excel (.xlsx, .xlsm) files, click Compare with this version on a row. The document opens with the changes listed paragraph by paragraph (cell by cell for a spreadsheet). Turn on the marks to see the changed paragraphs highlighted on the page, with a line where a paragraph was removed.
Some rows show a short summary of what changed in that save, such as “1 change” or “Formatting or metadata changed”.
Name a version
Naming a version makes the one that matters easy to find again, such as the one you sent to a client.
- Click Name this version on a row.
- Type a Name (for example “Sent to client”) and, if you like, a Note.
- Press Enter to save, or Escape to cancel.
The name shows as a chip on the row, with who named it. Switch on Named only to hide every version without a name. To change or remove a name, use Edit the name or note or Remove this name.
You need to be able to change the file to name a version. Names are stored in Foldr, not on the storage, so they don’t change the file or its history there.
On Foldr Storage, a named version is kept until its name is removed, even after unnamed versions would have expired. On Google Drive, naming a version also asks Drive to keep that revision. On other storage, the storage’s own rules decide how long a version is kept, named or not.
Restore a version
Click Restore this version on a row, then click again to confirm. The version becomes the current file. The version it replaces stays in the history, so a restore can itself be undone.
On SMB file servers the option is Restore as a copy instead. It saves the version as a new file beside the original, named with the version’s date and time (for example “Proposal (6 Nov 2026 18.30).docx”), and overwrites nothing. A file server keeps no version of what a restore would replace, so this is the safe way to get an old version back there.
Restoring is refused while the file is checked out by someone else, or under a legal hold.
Ask Grace
Grace can find a version for you, by its name or its date, and restore it. For example: “Restore a copy of the version we sent to the client.” She asks you to confirm before she restores over the current file. A copy beside the original needs no confirmation, on any storage.
Get back a deleted item
On Foldr Storage, deleted files and folders are kept for 30 days. Open the folder they were in and click Recently deleted. Click Restore this item beside the item, then click again to confirm. A restored folder comes back with everything that was in it. You need to be able to change files in that folder.
On other storage, deleted items go wherever that storage sends them (the SharePoint recycle bin, for example).
Which storage keeps versions
| Storage | Versions | Restore |
|---|---|---|
| Foldr Storage | Kept by Foldr. Saves made within 15 minutes of each other while editing in Bureau are kept as one version. Unnamed earlier versions are kept for 30 days. | Restore this version |
| SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams | The library’s version history | Restore this version |
| Google Drive | Revisions of uploaded files. Google Docs, Sheets and Slides aren’t listed. Drive removes unkept revisions after about 30 days or 100 revisions. | Restore this version |
| Box | Version history, depending on your Box plan | Restore this version |
| Dropbox | Version history, kept for 30 to 180 days depending on your Dropbox plan | Restore this version |
| Amazon S3 and S3-compatible | Only when versioning is turned on for the bucket | Restore this version |
| Azure Blob Storage | Only when versioning is turned on for the storage account | Restore this version |
| SMB (Windows file servers) | Shadow copies, taken on the server’s schedule rather than at each save | Restore as a copy |
| Teams for education, WebDAV, FTP and SFTP | None | None |
Foldr doesn’t add versions to storage that keeps none.