File versions
Uploading a replacement for a file does not overwrite anything. It adds a version and points the file at it.
What happens when you upload a new version
The new upload becomes a new version of the same file. The file keeps its identity, so every product it is attached to and every download ever issued for it still point at the right thing.
Existing links keep working and start serving the new version on the next click. Nothing has to be re-issued, and you do not have to tell anyone unless you want to.
The previous version stays in the history. Uploading deletes nothing.
Version history
Open a file’s version history from the Files page to see every upload it has ever had, which one buyers currently receive, and how many buyers an update notice would reach today.
Two things you can do from there:
- Roll back to an earlier version. It becomes the one buyers receive, immediately, on their existing links.
- Remove a version, but only a failed or stalled upload. Successful versions are kept so you can roll back to them, and the version buyers currently receive can never be removed.
Telling prior buyers
When you confirm a replacement upload you can tick Notify previous buyers.
The notice goes to everyone holding a live download for that file. It is one email per buyer, not one per download, so someone who bought the same file across three orders hears about it once, with a link to their own downloads.
A buyer is never sent the same version notice twice, so re-publishing after a failed send is safe. Rolling back to a version buyers already had sends nothing, because it is not news.
The wording of that email is the Update notice template on the Emails page. Editing it is part of the paid plans; the shipped default sends on every plan.
When to use a new version rather than a new file
Use a new version when the thing a buyer paid for is still the same thing, improved: a typo fix, a corrected page, a re-export at a better resolution, a new printing.
Use a new file when it is a different thing that happens to be related: a second edition you intend to sell separately, a format not everyone should get, bonus material.
The test is whether an existing buyer is entitled to it. If they are, it is a version. If you would want them to buy it, it is a new file.
What versioning does not do
It does not reach files that have already been downloaded. A buyer who took the old version last month has the old version, and the notice email is the only thing that tells them otherwise. That is what the notice is for.