View changes to a record and restore a field to an earlier value

Four columns of information display for all fields that hold or held data:

• Field Name - the field's system name and tag are shown.
• Date - the date of the change to the field.
• Time - the time of the change to the field.
• User - the user responsible for the change.

By default, records are grouped by Field Name (all changes made to a field are grouped together).

Note: Grouping is achieved by dragging a column header to the Grouping bar. You can find more details about using the Grouping bar to group records here.

Records are sorted by Date and then Time so that the most recent change is listed first.

To view the changes to a field:

1. Click the arrow head beside a field name to show all changes to a field sorted by date and time.
2. Click the arrow head beside a date / time to show details of the change to a field on that date / time.

Note: A history of all changes to fields is provided, including fields that are updated by the system rather than users.

Here we see that the current_location.date field has been changed three times. The row for the earliest date has been expanded:

Information shown for each field change:

Element	Details
Date & Time	The date and time of a change. In this example, the first change to the field was made on 8 February 2019 at 2:35 pm.
User	The user who made the change to the field.
/ /	The first cell in a row will hold: Icon Indicates A value was added to this occurrence If a field in the current record can have more than one value, we add an occurrence of the field for each value (e.g. a book can have multiple authors so we add an occurrence of the author.name (au) field for each author). An occurrence can be a member of a group of fields, and adding an occurrence of the field adds all members of the group at once.:   If there is no icon, a previous value was modified: A value was deleted from this occurrence:
Occurrence	A row will display for every occurrence If a field in the current record can have more than one value, we add an occurrence of the field for each value (e.g. a book can have multiple authors so we add an occurrence of the author.name (au) field for each author). An occurrence can be a member of a group of fields, and adding an occurrence of the field adds all members of the group at once.. In the example above, the current_location.date field has only one occurrence (it only holds one value). If a field can hold multiple occurrences, creator for example, a history for each occurrence will be recorded:
Language	If a field is multilingual, the language code will be recorded for the data language selected when the value was saved, e.g. en-US for US English, sv-SE for Swedish.
Old value	If the value in a field was changed on this date / time, the old value will show here. In the example above, we're viewing the first change to the current_location.date, so there is no old value. To restore a value, it is often only necessary to copy an old value and paste it. Restoring a Linked field A type of field used to link one record to another. A Linked field is a drop list of values (records that the field can link to). When a link is made, the field stores a reference to the linked record (a linkref). is a little more involved. Details below.
New value	If this is the first time a value was added to the field, or an existing value was changed, the new value is shown here.

The Difference tab, which is available in Collections versions 1.11 onwards, provides an alternative way to view the current and previous states of a record:

The tab comprises two panels, and four drop lists that are used to filter the information displayed:

Panel	Details
Left	The panel on the left lists each state of the record when it was last saved. In the example above, we see three states for the current record: the first (green) state is the state when the record was created. Two subsequent (orange) states identify saved modifications to the record. Details include: A coloured bar on the left indicating the state of the record (hover the cursor over a bar for a textual tooltip describing the state). The date and time this state was saved. The user who saved the record. Select a state in the left panel to view details about changes to fields in the right panel. Three states are possible: State Details New The record was created. The bar on the left is green: Modified The record was modified. The bar on the left is orange: Deleted The record was deleted. The bar on the left is red: See Record histories below for more details.
Right	When a state is selected in the left panel, details about changes to fields are shown in the right panel. Each row holds details about a single field: For Linked fields A type of field used to link one record to another. A Linked field is a drop list of values (records that the field can link to). When a link is made, the field stores a reference to the linked record (a linkref)., only the associated link reference fields are included and the value (data) is the record number of the linked record. Linked fields are indicated by the link icon. The bracketed number in front a field name, e.g. [1 ], indicates the field occurrence If a field in the current record can have more than one value, we add an occurrence of the field for each value (e.g. a book can have multiple authors so we add an occurrence of the author.name (au) field for each author). An occurrence can be a member of a group of fields, and adding an occurrence of the field adds all members of the group at once. in which the change occurred. For multilingual fields, the applicable language code is displayed in front of the value: Hover the cursor over a field name to see the field tag in a tooltip: A combination of colour-coding and symbols indicate whether data is new, modified or deleted: Data is: Details New When data is added to a field, a + symbol displays at the start of the row and the background colour of the row is green: Unchanged If a field with previously added data is unchanged when a record is modified in some way, there is no symbol at the start of the row and there is no background colour to the row: Modified If data in a field is modified in some way, two rows display for the field, one with the old value and one with the new. The row with the changed value has a - symbol and the background colour of the row is red; a row with a + symbol and green background holds the new data:

The four drop lists provide different filtering options:

Drop list
Record histories	Typically, the Record histories drop list only includes a single version of the record, the current version. The creation date and last edit date are shown, along with the user name of the user responsible for the record change: However, under certain circumstances, other versions of the record may also display in the drop list: When a record is deleted, its record number (priref A record's unique identifier. Currently, the simplest way to view a record's unique identifier is to add the priref column to Result set View. The field tag for the priref field is %0.) becomes available for re-use when a new record is created and the highest available record number in the current dataset A record number range in a database table used to group similar types of records. A database table will always have one dataset (with the full range of record numbers), but there may be one or more sub-divisions within this record number range. It is possible to work with (e.g. search) a sub-divided dataset or the full dataset (each sub-division simultaneously). Each dataset is considered a data source in its own right. has been used. Because the record history identifies records by the unique record number, the Record histories drop list includes a reference for the current and previous versions of records that use the same record number. It is possible to select a previous version and view the date that was available in that now deleted record. As we see here, the old version of a record is colour-coded as red to indicate that this version of the record was deleted:
User	If multiple users have edited the record, it is possible to view changes by <All> or a specific user:
Date range	Click the Date range field to display a date picker and select two dates: only record states between these dates will be listed in the left pane: Always select two dates (click the start and then the end date) and click Close to update the overview. Click the Return icon to restore the previous date range (by default, the full range available for the current record).
View	Four View options are available:
	View Details Full Shows the record state at the selected date and time without colour-coding changes. Full with changes Shows the record state at the selected date and times with colour-coding changes. Compact changes Shows the changes in the selected record state and some unchanged fields for context, but leaves out most unchanged fields. Changes only Shows only the changes in the selected record state and leaves out all unchanged fields.

Restoring the value in a Linked field is a little more involved as the field history only records the unique identifier (priref A record's unique identifier. Currently, the simplest way to view a record's unique identifier is to add the priref column to Result set View. The field tag for the priref field is %0.) for the linked record; to restore a link to a record, we first use the priref to identify the record and then we restore the link to it:

To restore a link:

1. Right-click a Linked field and select History in the context menu to display the Field History box.

   In this example the Linked field is Creator (creator (VV)), which links a record in the Object catalogue (the primary data source A link is made from a record in one data source (primary) to a record in another data source (target). A data source could be both the primary and target data source in a linking relationship if one of its records links to another of its records.) to a record in Persons and institutions (the target data source):

   

   Tip: See Linking records: an overview for all you need to know about linking records and linking terminology.

2. Identify the old value and note the unique identifier (priref) for the record you want to restore the link to.
3. Search the target data source A link is made from a record in one data source (primary) to a record in another data source (target). A data source could be both the primary and target data source in a linking relationship if one of its records links to another of its records. for the priref.

   Tip: Full details about performing a search can be found here.

   In this case we are searching for the creator of an item, so we search Persons and institutions.

   You can perform your search on the Standard tab by searching the Record number field for the priref (details about how to add a search field to the Standard tab here):

   

   Alternatively, specify a search statement on the Advanced search tab:

   

   This will identify the record to link to. In this example, the record with a priref of 9 in Persons and institutions is for Barry Humphries.

4. Now that you have identified the record to link to, return to the primary record A link is made from one record (the primary) to another (the target). and update the link:

   

5. Save the record to restore the link.