Is version control (ie. Subversion) applicable in document tracking? [closed]

Answer 1

You can, but you will allways compare the document versions with Word itself.

I haven't heard a version control database which can track changes in Word documents.

However there are some tools which can compare Word documents, so if you set up your version control client to use these tools for comparison, you can have some fun.

Answer 2

What on Earth are you all Word-is-binary-so-no-diff people talking about? TortoiseSVN, for example, integrates right out of the box with Word and enables you to use Word's built-in diff and merge functionality. It works just fine.

I have worked on projects that store documents in version control. It has worked out pretty well, although if people are unfamiliar with version control, they are probably going to have conceptual difficulties with things like "working copy" and "merge" and "conflict". Don't overestimate the users' capabilities when you plan your document management system.

I believe there exist big and powerful commercial solutions for all of this, as well. I'm sure if you have enough kilodollars, you can get something that fits your needs perfectly. Document management systems are a big business for big enterprise.

Answer 3

I use Mercurial with the TortoiseHg overlay. I can right-click a changeset, choose "Visual Diff", then choose the "docdiff" tool (comes bundled), which launches the document in Word with the Track Changes.

Answer 4

For what it's worth, there is also Google Docs. I guess it's not a perfect fit, but it's versioning is very convenient.

Answer 5

Not necessarily. It depends on how often the new files are committed to the repo. If the files are edited several times before a commit, then you're precisely where you are now. The biggest benefit is if the file becomes corrupted.

You can version any file; this is how Time Machine in Mac OS X Leopard works, for example, and there is an interesting article by someone who committed his entire computing environment into CVS and then just maintained working copies on his home and work machines.

But "better" and "easier" are specific to your situation, and I'm not sure I completely understand your problem as things stand.

Answer 6

YES, it's applicable! I totally agree to say that the combo SVN+TortoiseSVN suits well to track MS Office documents. You can lock a document for edition, write protect all unlocked files to avoid conflicts (i.e. parallel modifications), diff two versions of the same file, see the history of all the modifications and of course rollback to an older revision.
I tried to describe all of those tips in a dedicated blog post. (disclaimer: I'm the blog owner)

All of this could even be accessible from the web with a SVN web client! (might need some software development)

But if you're not accustomed to Version Control Systems in an other context this may not be the obvious choice. The needed work for a good integration with docs give dedicated tools an advantage: "electronic document management" systems are made just for that. A VCS like SVN may stay a good alternative for cost reasons :-)

Did you test the online service Simul? It looks promising, I personally like the GitHub-like orientation. Note that I'm not affiliated to Simul!