As you work on documents in the document editor, or as you upload new versions of files, Plexus will keep track of the different versions of documents in the platform.
When negotiating on documents, it’s important that you’re in control of who can see different versions of your work.
An internal user with access to the document will typically have access to all versions of work. However you can manage document versions seen by your external stakeholders by using version controls.
To control visibility of your document versions, head to the Document list to select your document
Manage document versions by clicking the Versions dropdown located just above the document.
The versions dropdown will show:
Whether the version is a minor draft version with tracked changes (i.e. 1.1) or a major version without tracked changes (i.e. 2.0)
Who uploaded or edited the document to create a given version of work
Whether that version should be visible to external users
Whether that version is the Current version that's previewed on the document previewer.
Top tip! You can click into each version of work to change the version that's shown on the previewer.
Toggling visibility for external users
Within the Versions dropdown, an eye icon indicates whether that version of work is visible to an external recipient.
If the eye icon is grey, the document will be hidden from external recipients outside of your organisation.
If the eye icon is blue, that document version will be shown to those external parties when:
the external user is a listed approver
the external user is a listed signer
the document has been shared with that external user
At some points in the workflow, you may also be prompted to Make this version visible. This happens when there are tracked changes on a document that you may like the counter party to see.
Clicking Make this version visible will automatically change the current document's visibility for any counter parties.
Using the above controls, you can change the visibility back at any time.
Visibility for that document version will reset when the tracked changes are accepted or removed from the document.
Default visibility for published and draft versions of work
It is important for businesses to have control over the versions of work that are visible to counter parties in the contracting process, particularly in the mitigation of risk.
The default visibility for counter parties is related to the presence or absence of tracked changes on a document.
A major version of work is any document that does not contain tracked changes
A minor version of work is any document that contains tracked changes
By default, a counter party will only ever see the most recent major version of work. An internal user has the authority over whether to share any additional versions of work with the counter party, using the controls above.
This default functionality ensures that counter parties will never see previous versions of work that had been revised or negotiated internally, without express permission.
Whilst internal users can manually change visibility for counter parties, these settings will reset each time a new major version of work is uploaded.
Questions? Reach out to [email protected] or use the live chat for more information.