Local version history for your website files

Local version history in FTP by Zaweba is a quiet copy of each file kept on your PC just before something overwrites it. Downloads, uploads and saves in the editor all add to it. It isn't a version control system like Git, and it doesn't need one; it's a safety net that's simply there, with limits you set in File > Options.

For a lot of people who look after websites, that's the kind of history they actually need.

The idea behind it

Most accidents on a website are overwrites. You upload the old copy over the new one. You download the server's version over a page you'd been working on. You save a change in the editor that breaks the layout. In each case the good version existed a moment ago and now doesn't.

So FTP by Zaweba keeps that moment. Before a local file is overwritten by Get, Get Newer or an editor save, or a server file is overwritten by Put, the previous version is copied into history on this PC. You don't have to remember to do it, and you don't have to commit anything.

What you can do with it

The history window shows each version with when it was kept, its size and where it came from. From there you can Compare with current, which opens a diff of changed lines; Open a copy to read or borrow from it without changing anything; or Restore, which puts that version back. Before restoring, the app keeps the current file too, so you can't lose work by restoring the wrong one.

Nothing in history touches the server. To put an old version live, restore it locally, then upload it.

Choosing the limits

File > Options sets how many versions to keep per file, a total size cap for the whole history and a maximum file size, above which a file isn't kept. There's also Clear history.

For a typical site of pages, styles and scripts, generous limits cost very little, because text files are small. Large images or archives are another matter, which is what the maximum file size is for. If you regularly download whole sites, keep an eye on the total cap; a full download can add many versions at once.

How it compares with other ways of keeping versions

Git and similar tools are excellent for planned work. They record changes you choose to commit, with messages, branches and a shared history across a team. But they rely on you committing, and on a typical hosting account nothing ties them to what's actually on the server.

Hosting backups are good for disasters. They hold the whole account at a point in time, but restoring one file can mean a support ticket or a trip through a control panel, and they may be a day old.

Local history sits in between. It records automatically, at the moment of risk, for every file the app touches. It's on your machine, so restoring is quick. It doesn't replace backups or version control, and it doesn't try to.

Where it fits in the app

History is one of several safety features in FTP by Zaweba that work together. Conflict warnings tell you before a single-file transfer overwrites a copy someone else changed. Previews in Get Newer, Put Newer and Sync show every file before anything moves. Server deletes can go to a server-side trash. History is the last line: if something was overwritten anyway, the earlier version is still there to compare and bring back.