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Release: Australia · Updated: 2026-03-12 · Official documentation · View source

Document versions

In the ServiceNow® Document Management application, documents display as versions in the record. You view these versions as a related list within the document record. A document can have many versions.

The term "document" refers to the container record that holds document information such as its name, description, type and other metadata. While the document record doesn’t contain the actual document file, it does contain versions in the record, which you can open, update, and track.

Use the Attachment icon (

Image omitted: attachment-icon.png
Attachment icon.\) to add documents to a record.

Alternatively, you can provide the link to a document in the URL field. You then access the actual documents by selecting the versions in the related list.

Document version review and approval

All approver and reviewer users have read access to the documents that they’re approving.

A document can have a reviewer or multiple reviewers and no approvers and vice versa. Users with admin and platform_document_management_admin roles​ have the option to create approval and review rules.

Document owners have the option to:

  • Initiate approval and review workflow​ for a document version.
  • Publish the approved version.
  • See the activity stream of the approval and review workflow.
  • Track the document Version State.

For multiple document versions, the latest reviewed and approved version gets published and the previous versions are retired.

  • Create a document version
    Create a document version for each document.
  • Compare document versions
    Document version comparison enables you to view differences between two versions of a document, highlighting changes such as added, removed, or modified content.

Parent Topic:Document repository

Related topics

Create a document record

Download a document

Share a document link

Modify a shared link access

Configure document permissions

Delete a document link

Delete documents