Notebook version history

Every notebook keeps its earlier versions on this PC, so you can see what changed and go back. This is like version history in Fabric notebooks and revision history in Databricks notebooks.

Versions and checkpoints#

On the notebook's Home tab, select Versions. The list shows the notebook's versions, newest first, grouped by day. Same as now marks the versions whose cells match the notebook as it is.

Saved: each save keeps a version. Autosave saves a few seconds after you stop typing, so the saves within 5 minutes of each other share one version, the newest. A save that changes nothing keeps nothing. Saved versions are kept for 30 days, up to 100 per notebook.
Checkpoint: Create checkpoint… keeps the notebook as it is now under a name you give it, such as "Before the refactor". Checkpoints are kept until you delete them.
Before a restore: what the notebook was just before you restored another version. Restore keeps it automatically.

The command bar (Ctrl+K) also finds Version history and Create a checkpoint.

Compare#

Compare on a version shows how the notebook now (including edits not saved yet) differs from it, cell by cell: cells changed, added, removed or reordered, with the lines that changed. Only cell code and Markdown are compared, not outputs. Compare with last commit does the same against the notebook's last Git commit when it's in a notebooks repository.

Restore#

Restore puts that version's cells back. Before it does, the notebook as it is now is kept as a Before a restore version, so you can restore that one to undo it. The notebook's lakehouse, where it runs and its publish workspace stay as they are now. Restore doesn't publish: the Fabric item changes only when you publish the notebook.

What it reads and writes#

Action	Reads	Writes
Save (yours, or autosave)	The notebook	A version on this PC (or replaces the newest saved version within 5 minutes)
Versions, Compare	Versions on this PC; the last Git commit for Compare with last commit	Nothing
Create checkpoint	The notebook	A checkpoint on this PC
Restore	The version	The notebook's cells, and a Before a restore version first
Delete a version		Removes that version from this PC

Versions are kept in the app's data folder (notebook-versions), outside every notebooks repository. They're never added to Git, published to Fabric or written to OneLake. They follow a notebook you rename. A new notebook given the name of a deleted one sees the deleted one's versions. Each version is one file. An index.json beside them lists every version without its cells, so saving and opening Versions stay quick however long the history grows; the app rebuilds it from the version files if it is damaged or out of step.