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.DocumentRevisions-V100: the hidden folder where every saved version of your documents lives

macOS quietly keeps old versions of documents edited in apps like Pages and Preview. How to measure that folder, when it gets large, and what to do.

5 min read

Open a document in Pages, Numbers, Keynote, TextEdit or Preview and choose File, Revert To, Browse All Versions. Every version you see there is stored in a hidden folder at the top of the disk called .DocumentRevisions-V100. It is part of what Storage settings counts as System Data.

Measure it

sudo du -sh /System/Volumes/Data/.DocumentRevisions-V100
# on an external drive
sudo du -sh /Volumes/YourDrive/.DocumentRevisions-V100

Terminal may need Full Disk Access to read it (System Settings, Privacy & Security). On most Macs it is small. It grows when large files are edited often in an app that autosaves: a big Keynote deck with video, a long Pages document full of images, or a large PDF annotated in Preview over many sessions.

How versions are kept

  • Apps that support autosave save versions as you work, and macOS thins them over time: more for recent days, fewer for older weeks.
  • When a document is deleted, its versions are eventually removed too.
  • Versions travel with the file only on the same disk. Copying a document to another Mac, or emailing it, sends only the current version.

Making it smaller

  1. Duplicate and replace large documents that have a long history. File, Duplicate, save the copy, and move the original to the Trash. The copy starts with no versions.
  2. Export instead of edit. For large PDFs you annotate repeatedly, keep one working copy and export finished versions.
  3. On an external drive you only use for storage, versions are of little use. The folder there is safe to remove when no app has files from that drive open.

It sits alongside other hidden folders on the same volume, such as the Spotlight index. Our guide to System Data covers the rest, and Spotlight's index has its own guide.

Common questions

What is .DocumentRevisions-V100 on a Mac?

It is the hidden folder where macOS stores earlier versions of documents from apps that autosave, such as Pages, Keynote, TextEdit and Preview. Browse All Versions in those apps reads from it.

Can I delete .DocumentRevisions-V100?

Not on your startup disk while macOS is running. On an external drive used only for storage it is safe to remove when no files from that drive are open.

How do I remove the version history of one document?

Use File, Duplicate in the app, save the copy, and move the original to the Trash. The duplicate starts with no stored versions.

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