Version history and replacing files
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Replacing a file keeps its link. That’s the whole point: publish
price-list.pdf once, update it every quarter, and every button, email and
printed QR code pointing at it keeps working.
What happens to the old file depends on your plan.
The short version
- The public link never changes when you replace a file.
- On Free, replacing overwrites permanently — the old version is gone.
- On Starter and above, the old version is archived and you can restore it.
- Changing a file’s slug does change its URL, and there’s no redirect.
Replacing a file
In the Designer panel
Click ⋯ on the file’s row, then Replace file. The modal confirms what
you’d hope:
The permanent URL will stay the same.
Each row shows its current version as v1, v2 and so on.
In the dashboard
There is no “Replace file” menu item in the dashboard — the row menu is Rename, Move to…, Version history and Delete.
Instead, replace by uploading a file with the same name as the existing one. DocBeam spots the clash and asks what you want to do:
- One file — Cancel, Upload as new, or Replace.
- Several files — Cancel, Review each, Keep both, or Replace all.
“Keep both” adds a suffix to the new file’s name so the two can coexist.
This asymmetry between the two surfaces is easy to trip over: if you’re looking for a Replace button in the dashboard, upload the file again instead.
What happens to the old version
On Free: it’s overwritten
When your plan retains no versions, replacing writes the new bytes over the old ones in place. The version number doesn’t advance and no history entry is created. The previous file is not recoverable.
DocBeam tells you this before you commit:
Replacing on your plan overwrites the file permanently — the previous version can’t be recovered.
On Starter and above: it’s archived
The new bytes are stored alongside the old, the previous version is archived, and anything past your plan’s retention cap is pruned automatically.
| Plan | Versions retained |
|---|---|
| Free | none — replaces overwrite |
| Starter | 2 |
| Pro | 5 |
| Unlimited | 10 |
Restoring an earlier version
Open ⋯ → Version history on either surface. You’ll see every retained
version newest-first with its size and date, the live one marked Current,
and a Restore button on the rest.
Restoring asks you to confirm:
Restore version N? This replaces the current file and archives the current version.
Two things about restore that surprise people:
The version number always moves forward. Restore version 3 while version 7 is live and you get version 8, carrying version 3’s contents. Version numbers are a history, not a pointer.
Restoring doesn’t cost you a retention slot. One archive is added and one is removed, so you can restore as often as you like without eating into your cap.
On Free, the Version history dialog shows an upgrade prompt rather than a list.
Why you might still see the old file
This is the most common question after a replace, and the answer is your own browser, not DocBeam.
DocBeam serves files with Cache-Control: public, max-age=300 — five minutes of
browser caching. So:
- Anyone visiting for the first time gets the new file straight away. The CDN’s own cache is keyed on the file’s contents, so it corrects itself the moment you replace something. There’s no stale-edge window to wait out.
- If you already downloaded the file recently, your browser may keep serving its saved copy for up to five minutes. That’s normal HTTP caching, and it applies to you and to anyone else who had already fetched it.
If you want to confirm a replace worked right now, do a hard refresh (Cmd+Shift+R on macOS, Ctrl+F5 on Windows) or open the link in a private window. That bypasses your local cache and fetches fresh.
Renaming versus replacing
These are different operations with very different consequences.
- Changing the display name is cosmetic. It’s what you see in DocBeam. Links are unaffected.
- Changing the slug rewrites the file’s public URL — and there is no redirect from the old one. Any link already published stops working.
If a file is already live on your site, treat its slug as permanent. Rename the display name freely; leave the slug alone.
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