Using Productivity Suite Version Control with Project Compare

Modern automation projects evolve quickly, and teams need a clear, trustworthy record of every change. In Productivity Suite 4.4 and later, two native capabilities—Version Control and Compare Project—work together to provide a disciplined workflow for tracking edits, reviewing history, and auditing differences down to individual rungs, tags, and instruction parameters. The result is faster reviews, confident releases, and easier troubleshooting across the full life of a PLC application.

What these tools do:

Version Control

Version control records a complete, time-ordered history of project changes. Each saved change (a “commit”) captures the state of project files along with a message explaining what changed. This history enables reviewing differences, restoring earlier versions, and proving what was deployed at any point in time.

Project Compare

Project Compare analyzes two Productivity Suite projects—or the current workspace against a saved revision—and reports exactly how they differ. It detects additions, removals, and modifications across ladder logic, tasks/routines, tag databases, and documentation. Results organize changes by area and allow drill-down to specific rungs and instruction parameters.

Comparisons can be filtered for focus and saved as a report for reviews, handoffs, or audits. Typical uses include pre-release verification, peer review, troubleshooting regressions, and maintaining alignment between logic and tag documentation.

Step-by-step example: Version Control with Project Compare

Enable tracking for the project

1.     Open Tools → Version Control. In Manage Project Repository, enable project version control and choose a repository location. If no repository exists at that path, one is created automatically. If the project isn’t at the repo root, it will be moved there on the next save. 

Make a small, reviewable change

2.      On rung 1 enter a normally open contact to an output enter a tag comment.

Save

3.     Next Save (Ctrl+S) the project name it “Protip Example”.

Commit the change with context

4.    Open Tools → Version Control → Commit (Ctrl+Shift+C). The files changed section lists modified, untracked, project files and any file type stored within the repository that is eligible for committing.

Use quick selects (All / None / This Project / Inverse) to quickly select multiple files.

 Enter “Initial Commit” in the Commit Message field to describe the change, then commit. 

Modify same rung

5.     Add a sub-rung with a normally open contact HMI PB. Save the project and commit the changes. 

Compare current state to the previous revision

6.     Open Tools → Compare Project. Set the Base Project to The Current Project in Workspace

7. Next set the Comparing To field to The Current Project’s History, select browse and pick the same project.

8. Click Compare.

Note: When a project with version control is selected, committed versions become available for comparison.

Note: Right clicking on any previous commit from the history log can take you to the compare choice you selected.

Read the results quickly

9.     Use the following color key to understand the results in Task view and TagDB view: Red = item exists in one project only (or order mismatch), Blue = common item with differences, Black = common with children, Grey = disabled rung. Differences appear graphically; blue rungs mark modified logic and red rungs mark rungs that are unique to one project or the other. 

Save the comparison for the record

10. Click Save to store an .adcmp report; later, reopen it with Open or print a focused set of differences for a review packet.

Trace, export, or revert if needed

11. From Version Control history log (Ctrl+Shift+H), open a prior project version, export that file, or compare any commit to another:

• Open this Project Version, Revert to this project version, View This File Revision, Export This File Version. Exported project files retain repository metadata to streamline later saving.

Quick tips

• Keep documentation in scope. Include rung comments and tag details in comparisons when process clarity matters.
• Use menu shortcuts. Alt+T, then V opens Version Control; Alt+T, then C opens Compare Project.
• Reopen old work fast. Open this project version or Revert to this project version from Version Control history to inspect or branch from a prior state.
• Refer to help topics P342 Version Control and P268 Compare Project.

Bottom line

Use Version Control to preserve a trustworthy record of changes and use Project Compare to explain exactly what changed. Together, these tools streamline reviews, reduce mistakes, and simplify compliance and maintenance across the life of any Productivity Suite project.