# Versions and republishing

Learn what Update sends to your live site, how saved versions and restore work, and why publishing alone does not create a version you can restore.

## Draft and live are separate

The live site serves a stored snapshot, one per site. It does not read your working copy. You can keep editing without visitors seeing it, and the changes go live only when you press **Update**.

## Republish your changes

1. **Open the Publish window** Press **Update** in the top bar. The window is titled **Update your site** and shows **Live at <address>.uova.io**, the date and time under **Last published**, and "Ready to update" with "Your latest edits will replace the live version".
2. **Select Update** The window shows "Updating..." while UOVA saves your pending edits, checks the site and publishes the new snapshot.
3. **Check the result** The success step says your changes are now live. It offers **View app**, **Share**, links for X, WhatsApp, LinkedIn and Facebook, and **Download motion clip (to post)**, and it shows **Secured with SSL**.

**Change settings** in the same window reopens the full wizard (address, access, **Website info**, review) with the button **Update now**. The address stays locked. **Take offline** is covered in [Unpublish or delete a site](https://www.uova.com/help/build/publish/unpublish-and-delete).

### What Update checks before it publishes

- It waits for pending cloud saves, then stops if the site was changed in another tab or device. The message tells you to reload to get the latest and says your edit in this tab is kept in Version history.
- If the editor has no pages in memory, it tries to recover them from your saved copy and otherwise stops with a "Your site is still loading" message.
- It copies temporary AI-provider images and video to permanent storage and stops if that fails.
- It refuses a site whose payload holds raw base64 media and is over about 3.5 MB.
- It refuses a site whose visible copy still names a template's showcase business.
- The request is limited to 10 per minute per IP address, and you must be signed in.

Update replaces the whole snapshot: pages, the title, description and share image from **Website info**, and the favicon and site name from Site Styles. Settings stored separately are not touched, including the site password, connected domains, head code and dashboard redirects. Homepage values saved on the dashboard SEO page are kept unless you set the same field in the editor.

## Saved versions

Saved versions are made in the editor's **Version history** panel. You can list them, compare them, rename them, delete them and restore one. They are also listed in the dashboard under Site settings > **Versions**.

| Point | How it works |
| --- | --- |
| How a version is created | By **Save a version** in the editor, and by the automatic snapshot taken before a restore. |
| Naming | The field **Name this version (optional)** takes up to 80 characters. With no name, the version is named after the date and time. Click a version's name to rename it. |
| Badges | **Saved** for a version you made, **Auto** for the snapshot taken before a restore. |
| Does publishing save a version? | No. Nothing records a version at publish time. |
| What a version holds | Your pages and your site styles: palette, fonts, button and spacing styles, favicon and site name. Versions saved before 28 September 2026 do not record button style, spacing, favicon and site name, and a restore leaves those unchanged. |
| How many are kept | Up to 50 per site. Automatic versions are dropped first. |
| Plans | Every plan. |

### Restore a version

In the editor, choose **Restore** on a version and confirm "Roll the site back to this version?". UOVA first saves your stored draft as an automatic version whose name starts with "Before restore" and ends with the name of the version you chose, then replaces your draft. If the safety snapshot cannot be saved, nothing changes: "The pre-restore safety snapshot could not be saved, so nothing was changed. Try again."

A restore clears the editor's undo history, so `Cmd+Z` cannot take it back. To return, restore the automatic "Before restore" version.

In the dashboard, Site settings > **Versions** shows **Live now** with the publish date, then **Saved versions**. A row menu offers **Compare** and **Restore this version**. **Compare** opens a drawer with a **Compare with** menu. The restore dialog says nothing is published and that your live address keeps showing what it shows now until you publish from the editor. Because publishing records no version, the page cannot say which saved version is live, so it shows the last publish time instead.

> **Restore never publishes, and publish is not a backup:** Restoring replaces your draft only. Press **Update** when you want the restored content live. Because publishing saves no version, use **Save a version** before a large change.

## Limits

- There is no one-step revert of the live site. To go back, restore a version and press **Update**.
- A brand-new page can take about a minute to show on the live site.
- Editor undo is separate and keeps only the last 15 steps (see [Undo, autosave and version history](https://www.uova.com/help/build/editor/undo-autosave-history)).
- If your account cannot store versions on the server, the editor keeps them on this device and says so.

**I edited my site and visitors still see the old one.**

Press **Update**. The live site serves the last published snapshot until you do.

**Does Restore change my live site?**

No. It replaces your draft only. The live site changes when you press **Update**.

**Update stopped and mentioned another tab. What does that mean?**

UOVA stops a publish when the site changed in another browser tab or device, so an older copy does not go live over newer work. Reload to get the latest copy. Your edit in the older tab is kept in Version history.

**Where did my draft go before I restored?**

It was saved as an automatic version whose name starts with "Before restore". Restore that one to return.

Source: https://www.uova.com/help/build/publish/versions-and-republishing