Version Control and Stacking

Versioning and Comparison

As you’re going through review and approval cycles for your creative work, Shade enables you to nest your versions in an organized way and visually compare what changes have transpired version over version. Comparing assets isn’t limited to nested versions; you can select files from within you folder hierarchy, views, collections, or search results, and compare those as well.

Key features:

• No limits to how many versions can exist within a stack

• Compare up to 6 assets side by side at once

• Compare mixed media types to ensure a cohesive look across videos, photos, and designs

Comparing media that hasn’t been versioned

From within your folder hierarchy, a view, collections, or search results:

1. Select up to 6 files

2. Right-click on any of the selected items

3. Choose Compare X Assets

A viewer window will open showing all selected assets.

• Press the play button to simultaneously playback any video files

• Select a file to view existing or leave comments

• Close the comment panel if you want to dedicate the full page to viewing whats being compared

Versioning, managing versions, and comparing versions

Creating versions

There are 3 flows for versioning:

1. Upload a new file is in Shade in the same folder as the previous version or version stack

2. Drag and drop it directly onto the older version, or existing version stack

OR

1. Right-click on the file where you’re looking to add your new version

2. Choose Upload New Version

OR

1. Double-click a file to open it

2. Click the 3-dot menu in the top right corner

3. Choose Upload New Version

Managing versions

When viewing files and folder:

1. Right-click on a file that has versions

2. Choose Manage Versions

3. Click and drag handles next to version numbers to modify the order of versions

4. Click the 3-dot menu for a given version to remove from the version stack

From within the asset viewer/player page:

1. Click the 3-dot menu in the top right corner

2. Choose Manage Versions

3. Click and drag handles next to version numbers to modify the order of versions

4. Click the 3-dot menu for a given version to remove from the version stack

Comparing Version

There are 3 flows for comparing versions:

1. Right-click on a file with versions

2. Choose Compare Versions

3. Select the versions you want to compare

OR

1. Double-click a file to open it

2. Click the 3-dot menu in the top right corner

3. Choose Compare Versions

4. Select the versions you want to compare

A viewer window will open showing all selected versions.

• Press the play button to simultaneously playback any video files

• Select a file to view existing or leave comments

• Close the comment panel if you want to dedicate the full page to viewing whats being compared

• The team member whose changes were most recently recorded at that time

You can filter the list by date range using the Snapshot range pickers at the top, and adjust the sampling interval (5min, 15min, 30min, or 1hr) to control how granularly the snapshots are shown.

Mounting a Snapshot

Shade works by mounting your cloud drives directly to your local filesystem, making them accessible as if they were local folders on your computer. Snapshots work the same way. Clicking Mount Snapshot on any entry mounts that version of the drive to your local machine as a read-only volume.

Once mounted, you can browse the drive exactly as it existed at that moment in time, locate any files that have since been deleted or changed, and copy them back to your current drive or local machine to restore them.

The read-only mount ensures that the snapshot itself cannot be accidentally modified during recovery.

Things to Keep in Mind

• Snapshots are read-only. You cannot edit or delete files through a mounted snapshot — they are strictly for browsing and recovery.

• Snapshot availability depends on your selected interval. Choosing a finer interval (e.g., 5 minutes) will show more snapshots within a given date range.

• If you're trying to recover a specific file, narrow your date range to around the time you believe the file existed to find the right snapshot quickly.

• Snapshots are only retained for 30 days. If a file was deleted more than 30 days ago, it will no longer be recoverable via snapshots.