Tracking Versions

Published 27 October 06 04:20 PM
A few of the responses to my previous post on saving copies of the thesis noted that one issue with saving multiple copies (which, of course, is A Good Thing) is that you need a way to keep track of which version of any particular chapter or section is the current one.

My current system involves naming files as 'Chapter X x.x' - eg Chapter Four 2.4. So each chapter starts off at 1.1, and moves upward. The numbers change as I feel that substantial changes have been made. To go from 1.1 to 1.2 means that, for example, a new subsection has been added, for that the order of a couple of pages has been altered. Going from 1.5 to 2.1 means that the chapter as a whole is significantly different: this might be a new structure (eg, moving from chronological to thematic), the addition of a new theoretical concept or a change in focus texts. Given that one of the major problems I've run across with writing the thesis has been finding the right structure for each chapter, this degree of changing file names happens dispiritingly often.

This method is obvious unscientific (depite its pretensions to some kind of mathematical logic), but it works for me.

I also have a hierarchy of places to save files and backup: the iPod has the most recent version, CDs are updated roughly every two weeks and named with the date saved, copies of drafts with supervisorial comments are stored in separate files for each supervisor.

by Karen.Hall

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# Matthew said on November 30, 2006 9:17 PM:

To keep track of the version of the file I add the date and maybe even the time that the file is saved to the end of the file name, before the file extension. For example: "Introduction 2006-11-30.tex"

Or if I work on the file often enough, I'll write/create a Word macro to perform this task and save the file using the macro instead of the pull down menu. The macros are pretty straight forward to create if you use the "Record macro feature" to produce the first one and then edit the original to suit what you need for other files later down the track (or use the record feature again if you are unsure of editing the macro).

The format of the date is YYYY-MM-DD so the files get sorted in chronologic order.

Cheers

Matt

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About Karen.Hall

I've recently submitted my PhD thesis, titled 'Discovering the Lost Race Story: Writing Science Fiction, Writing Temporality', for examination. In the meantime, I'm teaching in the discipline of Communication Studies at UWA and starting a new project on medievalism and media through a Whitfeld Fellowship.