# 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.

Product: content-central · Versions: 7.x · Audience: user · Time: 10 minutes · Last verified: 2026-09-05

Canonical: https://help.ademero.com/content-central/documents/replace-a-document-or-upload-a-revision

**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

1. Open the document's actions menu and choose **Upload Revision**.

2. 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."

> **NOTE:** **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

1. In the actions menu, open the **Replace** submenu and choose **Upload**. (The other entries — **DirectScan™** and **Get QCard** — replace by *scanning* instead of uploading.)

2. 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."

3. 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](/content-central/documents/read-a-documents-history-and-revisions), 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](/content-central/documents/check-out-and-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.

## What's next

- [Read a document's history and revisions](https://help.ademero.com/content-central/documents/read-a-documents-history-and-revisions)
- [Check a document out and back in](https://help.ademero.com/content-central/documents/check-out-and-check-in)