Do you really need a separate DWG for every revision?

[indiancad]

I recently worked on a project where every revision was saved as a completely separate DWG file.

 

After a few revisions, it became difficult to know which file was the latest one.

 

A simpler approach is to keep the working DWG as the main file and use DWGPROPS to record revision information such as the revision number, date, and description.

 

For issued drawings, I also keep a clear revision naming convention rather than relying only on the filename.

 

This makes it much easier to identify the current drawing and understand its history.

 

How do you normally manage DWG revisions on larger projects?

[CyberAngel]

This is one of the knottiest issues in engineering work. What constitutes a full revision? When do you issue a partial revision, if you do at all? How do you track the changes? How do you roll them back if necessary? Worst of all, different shops use different criteria, and sometimes the same shop uses different criteria for different projects.

 

It seems like common sense, since storage is so cheap these days, to save a new copy of the drawing for each revision, and append the revision number to the file name. That way the old revisions are still available if you need to refer to them or send them to someone. Even better, keep the revisions in a subfolder so they don't clutter up the main project folder. And this should go without saying--keep current backups!

 

The current working file should have the project name (or whatever) with no revision number. Again, though, some shops will use different standards.

 

For smaller projects, there's no need to keep old revisions, especially if you've sent them out all along. You can go back to those emails for attached copies of old drawings.

 

As always, simpler is better. Make a plan and stick to it. Otherwise you're asking for trouble.

[SLW210]

Like @CyberAngel, different places do it different.

 

My current work place, for the work I do, I keep all copies (even those I never released) on a personal (company) cloud drive, the latest revision is the one posted on the network, the drawing name includes the revision number at the end. In most cases, the relevant personnel are emailed that a new revision is out, since one or more of them would have requested a change. P&IDs we keep the old revisions in a separate folder on the network and sometimes the same for certain projects. For contractor drawings I also put old drawings in a folder and only leave the latest revisions on the network. For ongoing projects my boss usually keeps everything in a project folder and then at the end the "As Built" goes on the network, "As Built" as in I usually (or my boss/both of us and/or a relevant engineer) have to go double check everything.

 

Other places I have done them pretty much every method CyberAngel mentioned and probably more, as each company and even sometimes different divisions in a company wanted them done "their way".

[BIGAL]

Like others if a revision then a dwg was saved. We also saved a "AS Built" dwg, all our dwg's were recorded and could be looked up, we went back to 1999. They were saved as Tiffs later on as Pdf's. As we controlled the dwg's in regards to access by others, server locked, we made sure only the latest version was in the current working directory, we had a superseded directory. As part of document control a new project had specific directories premade.

[Steven P]

Likewise, we save a full copy of the as issued drawings, plus the PDF mark ups and check prints each in a separate folder. Unless specified otherwise all our files are suffixed with the revision code. Mark ups and check prints are in sequentially numbered and dated folders - so we can always go back.

 

Typical folders:

1.0 Working Drawings

2.0 Check Prints

 - 2.1 Check Print 01-01-26

 - 2.2 Check Print 15-03-26

3.0 Markups

 - 3.1 Markup 01-01-26

 - 3.2 Markup 10 -03-26

4.0 Previous Versions

 

And of course if there is a significant change between issues, I'll save the before and after away somewhere safe

 

We usually issue PDFs during the project and if required the as-builts as dwgs right at the end

 

 

I believe that the construction cloud saves each save as a new version whether it is a new revision or not

 

[SLW210]

I forgot to mention, for keeping up with the revisions we have Excel drawing lists with the Drawing names, dates and latest revision number on the network.

 

P&IDs keep a dated track of each and every revision in cast things get put back to an older revision.

[Paul Li]

When it comes to keeping copies of various revisions completed, file naming and renaming could become really tricky especially if they're externally referenced to other dwgs.

So to avoid having to repath dwgs that may be referenced elsewhere, what I've done in the past is to have the most current dwg always named the same and stored in the same location. A folder is created with the revision date as the name and the dwg is then copied into that folder.

Now I have preserved copies of major milestone revisions saved in the project folder.

 

[SLW210]

I really don't use a lot of XREFs (and you hit on one of those reasons), even then I tend to Bind them at the end of the job, but if you revise a drawing that is Xreffed by other drawings, you can use the Reference Manager or a third party program, I know there are a few LISPs out and about, I believe I posted something for updating referenced Images a while back, I believe I have one for .dwg.

 

By most accounts, if you modify a drawing that is Xreffed into other drawings you also need to update the revision on those as well.

 

I also found a LISP IIRC that will do some revision work on a drawing, I was trying to improve and modify it for my purposes, but haven't revisited it in a good while. I'll get back when I can locate some of those codes.

 

The way you do it is fine, though could be tricky for others, since I do a lot of non-production drawings I also do that on occasion.

 

I spend a lot of my drafting time on "what if we" drawings, not to mention "off the books" drawings, so I have different methods of handling those updates.

[SLW210]

On 9/11/2026 at 8:51 AM, CyberAngel said:

This is one of the knottiest issues in engineering work. What constitutes a full revision? When do you issue a partial revision, if you do at all? How do you track the changes? How do you roll them back if necessary? Worst of all, different shops use different criteria, and sometimes the same shop uses different criteria for different projects.

 

It seems like common sense, since storage is so cheap these days, to save a new copy of the drawing for each revision, and append the revision number to the file name. That way the old revisions are still available if you need to refer to them or send them to someone. Even better, keep the revisions in a subfolder so they don't clutter up the main project folder. And this should go without saying--keep current backups!

 

The current working file should have the project name (or whatever) with no revision number. Again, though, some shops will use different standards.

 

For smaller projects, there's no need to keep old revisions, especially if you've sent them out all along. You can go back to those emails for attached copies of old drawings.

 

As always, simpler is better. Make a plan and stick to it. Otherwise you're asking for trouble.

 

I took over a project (lots actually) when I got to my current work place 16 years ago, from an Architectural firm and made revisions and "what ifs" up until last year. You may have guessed, pretty much back to the first updates I did and they just finished the project several months ago, I am glad I kept most of the working drawings, notes, revisions, etc. It was approved and then not approved a few times in that time.

 

No doubt as soon as I delete a revised drawing, they will want to go back to that one. I often tell them, that's pretty much the exact same as the first one I issued for approval.

 

So I pretty much keep everything until I know a project is completely dead. Sometimes my "Revision" is just the date I last worked on the drawing for updates.