---
title: "Manage dashboard version history | Grafana documentation"
description: "View and compare previous versions of your dashboard"
---

# Manage dashboard version history

Whenever you save a version of your dashboard, a copy of that version is saved so that previous versions of your dashboard are never lost. You can see a list of dashboard versions in the **Versions** tab of the dashboard settings:

The dashboard version history feature lets you compare dashboards and restore previously saved dashboard versions. Grafana saves 20 versions by default. To change this limit, configure the [`[dashboards] versions_to_keep`](/docs/grafana/latest/setup-grafana/configure-grafana/#dashboards) setting.

## Compare two dashboard versions

To compare two dashboard versions, follow these steps:

1. Click **Edit**.
2. In the toolbar, click the **Dashboard options** icon.
3. In the sidebar, click **Settings**.
4. Go to the **Versions** tab.
5. Select the two dashboard versions that you want to compare.
6. Click **Compare versions** to view the diff between the two versions.
7. Review the text descriptions of the differences between the versions.
8. (Optional) Expand the **View JSON Diff** section of the page to see the diff of the raw JSON that represents your dashboard.
9. When you’ve finished comparing versions, click **Back to dashboard** and **Exit edit**.

When you’re comparing versions, if one of the versions you’ve selected is the latest version, a button to restore the previous version is also displayed, so you can restore a version from the compare view:

## Restore a previously dashboard version

To restore to a previously saved dashboard version, follow these steps:

1. Click **Edit**.
2. Click the **Dashboard options** icon.
3. In the sidebar, click **Settings**.
4. Go to the **Versions** tab.
5. Click the **Restore** button next to the version.

When you restore a version, the dashboard is immediately saved and you’re no longer in edit mode.

After you restore a previous version, a new version of the dashboard is created containing the same exact data as the previous version, but with a different version number. This is indicated in the **Notes column** in the **Versions** tab of the dashboard settings. This is done simply to ensure your previous dashboard versions are not affected by the change.