How to Trim or Delete document Versions in SharePoint

As you know in SharePoint each document has its own Version history which keeps track of all the changes done in the document properties and also saves the comments that users include with their version update. These versions are actually a copy of that document and takes up a chunk of space in sites allocated Storage space.

Deleting these versions can save you a lot of space and can improve the data retrival in your custom webparts(if using any). To delete existing versions for a document we need to first set a Version limit on a document library.

How to Define Version limit - Each document library can be setup to save pre-specified number of versions for any given document in that library. To do these follow the steps below.

1. Login as Site admin and Navigate to the desired document library.

2. In document library click on Settings -> Document Library Settings.

3. In document Library settings page click on “Version Settings”.

4. On Version Settings Page in “Document Version History” section select “Keep the following number of major versions: ” and then enter the number 3 or 5 in the textbox below. Note that : we will only be saving 5 versions of any document going forward.
5.Next click Ok and Navigate back to the document library.

You have now successfully set-up a limit on number of versions each document can have.

6. Next,select the document you want to trim the versions of.

7. Check out the document edit it and check it back in. This wil trim off all the old versions and will keep the five most recent versions saved in its version history.

Any document edited (or checked in) in the library will now have only five most recently checked in versions saved.