: What websites or programs offer strong revision tools? I'm wondering if there are any pieces of software that keep copies of revisions made on a document. So say I delete 500 words out of

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You are talking about a Revision Control System, and it's a principle tool among software engineers.

Using git (not github, but git on your own files) is a great idea. The thorn is that you don’t get the same benefit when using “word processor” files.

A solution is to use a system of writing using plain text files, with formatting as a separate process. Do you mind giving up wysiwyg bold/italic and having it look like a typewriter, as you work?

With text files, the version control system can store revisions compactly by only storing the differences, and more importantly can identify and present those differences to you. You can also merge, cherry pick, delete changes other than the latest, etc. git in particular is a general purpose and useful tool, which you can use by working in the format it deals with.

You can actually produce better finished documents this way, using tools that are smarter than the basic word processor.

You might also look at the way OpenDocument word processing documents are stored: inside a zip file is a xml markup file! You can unzip the saved file and then save in git.

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Google docs has insane levels of versioning, and can compare changes since any specified version, showing additions and deletions. It's probably your best choice.

Scrivener, probably the most widely used writing-specific software, can create a backup every X saves. I set mine on 5, since I save frequently. But that might not be what you're looking for.

At first I thought you want an actual "revision" tool, for which I recommend Pro Writing Aid.

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