An overview of the Versions toolset

Versioning allows multiple users to access geographic data in a geodatabase. Versioning lets connected users simultaneously create multiple, persistent representations of the geodatabase without data duplication. The same features or rows can be concurrently edited without explicitly applying locking the data. This framework lets you create versions of a geodatabase for the states of a project, reconcile differences between versions, and update the master version of a geodatabase with the design as-built. Versioning is supported by the Enterprise geodatabase only.

An organization can use versioning to manage alternative engineering designs, solve complex what-if scenarios without impacting the corporate database, and create point-in-time representations of the database.

Primarily, versioning simplifies the editing process. Multiple users can directly modify the database without having to extract data or lock features and rows before editing.

Versions tools.

Tool	Description
Add Field Conflict Filter	Adds a field conflict filter for a given field in a geodatabase table or feature class.
Alter Version	Alters the geodatabase version's name, description, and access permissions.
Change Version	Modifies the workspace of a layer or table view to connect to the specified version.
Create Version	Creates a new version in the specified geodatabase.
Delete Version	Deletes the specified version from the input enterprise, workgroup, or desktop geodatabase.
Reconcile Versions	Reconciles a version or multiple versions with a target version.
Register As Versioned	Registers an enterprise, workgroup, or desktop geodatabase dataset as versioned.
Remove Field Conflict Filter	Removes a field conflict filter for a given field in a geodatabase table or feature class.
Unregister As Versioned	Unregisters an enterprise, workgroup, or desktop geodatabase dataset as versioned.

Legacy:

The following tools in this toolset were available prior to version 10.2. They have been removed because they are no longer applicable.

Tool	Recommendation
Create Versioned View	Versioned views are automatically created when registering as versioned.
Post Version	The Reconcile Versions tool should be used to post versions after a reconcile.
Reconcile Version	The Reconcile Versions tool should be used to reconcile versions.