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If I have 3 files of the same general type, A1, A2 and A3, already uploaded to a given document library, is there a way to "stack" them within the library such that they are treated as numbered versions of the same document? In other words, A1 becomes version 1.0, A2 becomes V2.0 and A3 becomes 3.0? (This assumes of course that major versioning is already active in this library).

I'm trying to speed up maintaining versioning for files that are edited outside of SP and may not maintain consistent naming, but not have to designate and upload individual versions one at a time. Also other users occasionally drag and drop a new doc version in without stacking and ask me to "fix it".

It feels like this should be trivial but this is a point on which I am frequently very much incorrect.

thanks in advance,

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The only way would be to do it manually, that is, check A1 out, download A2, rename it to A1 and upload it which would then become A1 2.0. Repeat the process for A3 which would become A1 3.0 and so forth. It isn't a lot of work but I can certainly see how it would get annoying.

You will also lose the meta information from the version history this way as it will only show you as the one who made the change and the timestamp will be the time you made the change, not the time it was actually changed.

The real "fix" is to train your users to understand how the system works and get them using it properly. It isn't really that hard for them to do.

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Dave, what you've said confirms my worst fear, but thanks for the information. Building a better user is always a challenging solution to implement! – Len de Vlaming Feb 16 '12 at 17:29
It might help if you showed their managers the amount of and type of information being lost through this process. Explain how the current process makes it impossible to make sure you are working with the right version of the document (making this no better than email!) and that, with you having to create versions manually, they are also losing all accountability for those changes as that information is lost once you merge it together. You can often build better users by building better managers first. – Dave Wise Feb 16 '12 at 17:36

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