File Versioning
===============

.. warning::
	This page may be out of date and requires review.
	External versioning requires documenting.

There are 3 types of File Versioning. When you select each in the web
interface, a short description of each is shown to help you decide.

No File Versioning
------------------

This is the default setting. With no file versioning, files that are
replaced or deleted on one device are deleted on other devices that the
directory is shared with. (Note: If a folder is marked "Master Folder"
on a device, that device will not accept changes to the files in the
folder, and therefore will not have files replaced or deleted.)

Simple File Versioning
----------------------

With "Simple File Versioning" files are moved to the ".stversions"
folder (inside your shared folder) when replaced or deleted on a remote
device. This option also takes a value in an input titled "Keep
Versions" which tells SyncThing how many old versions of the file it
should keep. For example, if you set this value to 5, if a file is
replaced 5 times on a remote device, you will see 5 time-stamped
versions on that file in the ".stversions" folder on the other devices
sharing the same folder.

Staggered File Versioning
-------------------------

With "Staggered File Versioning" files are also moved to the ".stversions"
folder (inside your shared folder) when replaced or deleted on a remote device
(just like "Simple File Versioning"), however, Version are automatically
deleted if they are older than the maximum age or exceed the number of files
allowed in an interval.

The following intervals are used and they each have a maximum number of
files that will be kept for each.

-  1 Hour - For the first hour, the most recent version is kept every 30
   seconds.
-  1 Day - For the first day, the most recent version is kept every
   hour.
-  30 Days - For the first 30 days, the most recent version is kept
   every day.
-  Until Maximum Age - Until the maximum age, the most recent version is
   kept every week.

Maximum Age
~~~~~~~~~~~

The "Maximum Age" input is the maximum time to keep a version in days.
For example, to keep replaced or deleted files in the ".stversions"
folder for an entire year, use 365. If only for 10 days, use 10. **Note:
Set to 0 to keep versions forever.**

Versions Path
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

With "Staggered File Versioning" method (only), if you would like to
specify where removed and deleted files are stored as part of the
Versioning feature, you can specify the path in the "Versions Path"
input after this method is selected. [*More detail needed here: Can this
be a relative path, or must it be an absolute path?*\ ]
