Save revisions of your project, see what changed as code, as rendered pages or element by element, and restore single changes, selected files or a whole revision with a safety revision saved first.
A revision is a saved copy of your whole project that you can go back to. Unlike undo, revisions stay available after you close the project, so they are useful before a larger redesign or an AI task.
In Pinegrow 10 you can review a revision before you restore anything: as source code, as two rendered pages side by side, or as a list of changed elements. Then restore a single element, selected files or the whole revision. Before each restore, Pinegrow saves a safety revision of your current project.
Revisions work with local projects in Pinegrow Desktop. Pinegrow Online has its own revisions, described at the end of this page.
Open the Revisions tab
Open the History panel and click the Revisions tab. The History tab next to it is the undo history, described in History – Undo and Redo.
The Revisions tab lists the revisions of the current project, newest first. Click a revision to expand it. You see how many files were added, modified and deleted, the top changed files, and a View details button.
Create a revision
Click Create revision. Pinegrow saves all open pages and stylesheets first, then records the project. If nothing changed since the latest revision, you see No changes since the latest revision.
New revisions are named Snapshot 1, Snapshot 2 and so on. To give one a clear name, click the arrow at the end of its row (or right-click the row), choose Rename…, type a Revision name and click Save. Leave the name empty to go back to the default name.
The same menu has Compare…, Restore…, Preview and Export….
Automatic revisions
The badge on the Create revision button shows OFF when automatic revisions are off, or the interval when they are on. To change this, click the settings button next to Create revision. The Revision settings dialog has these options:
- Enable auto revisions: create a revision automatically after you save a page, when the interval has passed since the last revision.
- Minutes between auto revisions: the interval, 5 minutes by default.
- Revisions folder: where revisions are stored. By default this is a folder inside your Pinegrow Data folder, not inside your project. Use Choose folder… to pick another one. When you change it, Pinegrow asks whether to move the existing revisions to the new folder.
These settings apply to all projects.
Review a revision
Expand a revision and click View details, or choose Compare… in its menu. The Revision "name" window opens. It compares the previous revision on the left (Before) with this revision on the right (After). Use the two version lists at the top to compare any two revisions, or a revision with Current, the project files as they are now.
The list on the left shows the changed files. Select a file, then choose how to look at it with Review, Code or Compare.
Code
Code shows the source changes between the two versions. Changed image files are shown side by side.
Compare
Compare renders both versions of the page, or both images, side by side. It works for HTML and image files.
Review
Review breaks an HTML page into individual changes: elements that were added, changed, moved or removed. It is the view that opens first.
- Click a change in the list, or use the up and down arrows, to select it. Its details show the Before and After content, and the page highlights the element.
- Hover B or A next to a change to preview just that element's Before or After state on the page. The preview ends when you move away.
- Use Before and After above the page to switch the whole page.
- Filter the list with the chips at the top (for example Changed) or the search box, and change the preview width, zoom and highlights with the menus above the page.
The page preview runs without scripts. Images and other files the page links to are not part of this comparison, so they may show their current version.
Restore changes
You can restore single elements, selected files or a complete revision. Each restore saves a safety revision of your current project first, so you can return to the state you had before.
Restore individual changes
To keep most of the newer work and bring back only some changes:
- In the version list on the right, choose Current. Keep the older revision on the left.
- Select Review and select a change.
- In its details, click Restore. The change is marked Restoring. Click Keep to undo that choice.
- Click Result above the page to preview the page with all your choices.
- Click Apply restorations…, check the listed files and confirm with Apply restorations. Click Discard instead to drop the pending choices.
Nothing is written until you apply. Pinegrow then saves open documents, creates the safety revision Before applying visual restorations, writes the restored elements and records the result as Applied visual restorations. The comparison refreshes against that result.
Individual restores work for HTML files that exist in both versions. Some changes can only be reviewed, for example changes in embedded code, page metadata, or elements Pinegrow cannot match reliably between the two versions. The details of such a change explain why.
Restore selected files
In the comparison window, check the files you want in the file list (or use Select all / none) and click Restore Selected Files…. The files are restored from the revision you opened to the current project. Files that already match are not selectable.
Restore a complete revision
In the Revisions tab, open the revision's menu and choose Restore…, then confirm. The whole project returns to that revision, and open documents reload. If the project already matches the revision, Pinegrow tells you and changes nothing.
Other revision actions
- Preview (or Preview Revision in the comparison window) opens the revision read-only in a new window. Restore actions in that window apply to the main project.
- Export… copies the revision to a folder you choose.
- Compare with published appears in the Revisions tab after you publish the project. It compares the project with the revision that was last published. See Publish your website.
- To remove all revisions of a project, right-click the settings button and choose Delete all revisions for this project…. This also deletes the project's publication history and cannot be undone.
Review AI changes
When AI Assistant review is enabled, AI edits open in the same comparison window, with the same Review, Code and Compare views. See Review AI changes.
Revisions in Pinegrow Online
Projects in Pinegrow Online also have a Revisions tab. There, revisions are kept with the online project instead of a local folder, and there are no revision settings. Pinegrow Online creates a revision when you save and the latest revision is more than 5 minutes old, and when the project is saved while closing. You can compare, preview, rename and restore revisions, and Export downloads a ZIP file. Restoring individual elements with Apply restorations is available only in Pinegrow Desktop.
Troubleshooting
- Snapshots are only available for local projects. Revisions need a project folder on your computer.
- Create revision is not available in read-only revision previews. Switch to the main project window.
- Apply or discard pending restorations before whole-file Restore… Finish or discard the individual restorations first.
- File changed since review: discard the pending restorations and open the comparison again.
- Before restoring from a preview window, save or close the main project if it is open in another Pinegrow window.