Deleting an Old Document Version

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated August 24, 2024)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

If you are using Word to manage different versions of your document (using the Versions feature), there may come a time when you want to delete an old version of your document. This is periodically a good idea, anyway, since each version you save increases the amount of disk space necessary to store your file. To delete a saved version, follow these steps:

Choose Versions from the File menu. Word displays the Versions dialog box. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Versions dialog box.

Using the list of existing versions, select the version you want to delete.
Click on Delete. You are asked to confirm your action; you should click on Yes.
Click on Close to dismiss the Versions dialog box.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1851) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Renaming a File

Need to rename a disk file from within a macro? You can do it using the Name command, described in this tip.

Discover More

Deleting All Fields

Fields can be a great way of adding small snippets of dynamic data to your documents. However, you may want to get rid of ...

Discover More

Stopping a Two-Word Phrase from being Flagged as an Error

As you type, Word is busy working in the background to determine if there are spelling and grammar errors in your prose. ...

Discover More

The First and Last Word on Word! Bestselling For Dummies author Dan Gookin puts his usual fun and friendly candor back to work to show you how to navigate Word 2019. Spend more time working and less time trying to figure it all out! Check out Word 2019 For Dummies today!

More WordTips (menu)

Versions Not Saving Correctly

If you use Word's versioning tool, you may notice that you sometimes get errors with the versions in your documents. This ...

Discover More

Automatic Scrolling

Spend a lot of time scrolling around in your document? You might find one of Word's hidden scrolling commands to be a ...

Discover More

Understanding Discussions

Discussions in a valuable tool for workplace collaboration on the same Word document.

Discover More

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is seven more than 2?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)

This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.