Drupal 8 – Create new revision

When creating / editing pages in Drupal 8, you’ll see a feature labelled, Create new revision. In this tutorial, we’ll review what this feature is and how to use it.

What does the create new revision feature do?

Each time you edit a page in Drupal 8, you have the option to create a new revision of the page. When you do this, Drupal will save a copy of the previous version of the page. You can switch back to these older versions of the page at any time.

Using the Drupal 8 revisions tool

How to create a new revision

1. 

   Click the checkbox for Create new revision

   When creating / editing content, on the right side of the editor you’ll see a section that begins with Last saved, and shortly under that you’ll see a checkbox for Create new revision – check this box.

2. Enter a description for the change

   After clicking Create new revision, you’ll see a text box appear below. In this area, type in a brief description to remind yourself of the changes that were made.

3. Save the page

   After you’ve entered a description for the revision, click the Save and publish button towards the bottom left of the editor.

   That’s it, you’ve just created a new revision! The only message you’ll see after saving is the standard, “Basic page Lorem Ipsum 2 has been created.” – you will not see a message regarding a new revision.

How do I view / restore previous revisions?

1. 

   Click Revisions

   When editing an article, click the Revisions tab in the top right.

2. Find the revision you want to restore

   After you’ve clicked Revisions, you’ll see a list of previous revisions that you’ve saved. You need to identify the revision that you want to restore. You can do this by:
   * reviewing the timestamp on each revision
   * clicking on the timestamp itself to view the page as it will be if restored
   * looking at the revision note that you previously added

3. Click Revert to restore the revision

   Under each revision, you’ll see a menu that says Revert. Click Revert next to the revision of your choice. You’ll be asked:
   “Are you sure you want to revert to the revision from…”
   Click Revert to continue.

   When the revision has been restored, you’ll then see a message that says:
   “Basic page … has been reverted back to the revision from…”.