Getting an old version back with history in FTP by Zaweba

Overwriting the wrong file is the classic accident of website work. You download a page and lose the change you made locally, or you upload an old copy over a newer one on the server. FTP by Zaweba keeps a quiet copy of the previous version on your PC every time something is overwritten, so these accidents become a short detour instead of a lost afternoon.

When a version is kept

A version is kept before a local file is overwritten by Get or Get Newer, before it is overwritten by a save in the editor, and before a server file is overwritten by Put. In each case the file as it was just before the change is stored on this PC.

That last point catches people out in a good way. Even when the overwritten file was on the server, the copy is kept locally. If you uploaded the wrong version of a stylesheet, the version the server had a moment ago is in your history.

Other tools feed it too. Get Recent from Server, Get Entire Site and Sync all replace local files, and those replaced copies go into the history like any other overwrite.

The history window

The history window lists each kept version with when it was kept, its size and where it came from. That last detail tells you whether a version was kept because of a download, a save or an upload, which is often exactly what you need to find the right one.

From there you have three choices. Compare with current shows what changed between that version and the file as it is now, so you can see whether it is the one you are after. Open a copy opens the old version without touching anything, handy for copying a few lines back by hand. Restore puts the old version back, and the current file is kept in history first, so a restore can itself be undone.

Nothing in history touches the server. Restoring a version changes your local file; if you want the server to have it too, upload it as you normally would.

Setting the limits

File, Options holds three limits: how many versions to keep per file, a total size cap for the whole history, and a maximum file size above which files are not kept. There is also Clear history.

The defaults suit most sites, but it is worth a look if you work with large files. A folder of high-resolution images replaced by Get Entire Site could take a lot of room. Lowering the maximum file size keeps history to the text files you are most likely to want back, while raising the total cap keeps more versions of everything.

Using it day to day

Most of the time you will forget it is there. It is when something looks wrong that it earns its keep. A page that worked yesterday and does not today, a style that suddenly changed, a form that stopped sending: open the history for the file involved, compare the recent versions, and the change often jumps out.

It also lets you be braver. Experiment freely in the editor, try a different layout with Live Preview open, and if it does not work out, go back. Saves are recorded, so even an experiment you saved over is not lost.

How it differs from the other safety nets

The local history is about file contents being overwritten. Deleted local files go to the Recycle Bin, and deleted server files can go to the server trash. Disk operations such as renames and moves have their own operations log with Undo this batch. Each covers its own kind of mistake, and between them most everyday accidents in FTP by Zaweba can be put right without needing a backup from the hosting company.