Replace a document or upload a revision
The two actions that change a filed document's file — Upload Revision for a quick new version, Replace for permanently overwriting the pages — what version each creates, and when check-out is the better tool.
At the end of this guide you'll know the two actions that change a filed document's file — as opposed to its field values — what kind of version each one creates, and how to pick between them and a check-out.
Both live in the document's actions menu — on search results and the Folder Browser (including the right-click menu), and in the document viewer.
Upload Revision: the quick new version
Open the document's actions menu and choose Upload Revision.
In the dialog ("Uploading a new revision of: …"), click Select file, pick the file — any file type — and click Upload Revision.
What you should see: "Revision uploaded successfully!" The document now has a new major version with the new file; the old file stays in the version history, and the history records the action as Uploaded Revision.
This is the right tool when the new file already exists — a corrected export, a signed copy that came back by email. There's no lock and no editing session: the code's own description of it is "no checkout/checkin."
Upload Revision refuses checked-out documents — even your own check-out. A check-out means an editing session is in flight; finish it with Check In instead.
Replace: permanently overwrite the pages
In the actions menu, open the Replace submenu and choose Upload. (The other entries — DirectScan™ and Get QCard — replace by scanning instead of uploading.)
The dialog opens with Append and Replace segments — make sure Replace is selected, and read the orange warning; it means it: "Replacing will permanently overwrite the current document. This action cannot be undone."
Select the file — PDF or TIFF only here — and confirm.
The result is also a new major version, recorded as Replaced. The warning and the version history coexist deliberately: the listing can't be undone with a button, but prior versions remain in the document's history, where major versions can be downloaded.
The Append segment of the same dialog adds pages to the end (or, with Insert at beginning, the start) instead of overwriting — reach it directly from the Append submenu when that's what you mean.
Which tool when
| Situation | Use |
|---|---|
| The corrected file already exists, any format | Upload Revision |
| Overwrite the pages with a new scan or PDF/TIFF | Replace |
| Add pages to what's there | Append |
| You need to edit the file over time, holding others off | Check out, edit, check in |
All four end the same way — a new major version — but only check-out protects the document while you work.
If the actions are missing or refused
- All of these require the Allow Document Editing permission on the document's type — "You do not have permission to edit this document" (or "…to upload a revision") is a permissions answer; ask your administrator.
- A document checked out by another user refuses Replace and Append too; wait for check-in or see the holder.
- If the menu entries themselves are absent, an administrator may have hidden them for your account's menu configuration.
Success check: upload a revision to a test document, then open View History — the new row reads Uploaded Revision with a higher version number, and the previous major version is still there with its download control.