In official documents that are revised on a regular basis, which would be the correct/most natural phrase to use for the slot where you enter the date on which the document was last revised – "most recent revision", "latest revision", or "last revision"?
2 Answers
"Most recent revision: [date]" and "Latest revision: [date]" are both good.
"Last revision: [date]" is probably fine, too, but I prefer "Last revised: [date]", to avoid the possible implication (which may only be a result of overthinking) that the "last" revision is the final one.
Suppose someone finds an out-dated version. If it says "latest" or "most recent" revision it isn't actually true. It's misleading, so I suggest the factual
Revision date
without struggling to find an appropriate adjective.
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1But sometimes you want to actually express that something was last revised on a certain date - i.e., that there is no more recent version. Obviously in that case you have to be careful about not leaving around outdated versions. In any case, the OP gave three suggestions that all assume that this additional piece of information is included in the dating mechanism, and merely asked which is most natural. I don't see this answer as addressing that question.– cruthersCommented Jul 22, 2022 at 18:48
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1@cruthers yes, but, outdated versions do get left around, as hard copy, on neglected websites, etc. When would a revision not be the "latest" revision? It's almost a tautology. Commented Jul 22, 2022 at 18:52
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1For example, in a previous job, my team would share a document among ourselves and maybe a client. The document would be periodically updated. It might be marked "latest revision: [date]" or "last updated: [date]" or the like, so we all knew how current the info on it was. If it said "[date] revision," that could be potentially confusing. Someone might think there might be another, separate and more recent version of the document, rather than that only one document is maintained and periodically updated and re-dated.– cruthersCommented Jul 22, 2022 at 18:56
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1Well, as my answer says, I think that is wrong. It's the date that gives you the relevant information, and it is usually impossible to destroy earlier ones, or to go around changing them to: "previous version", "last but one version" etc. Finding an obsolete document that says "latest version" is even more confusing than looking at the actual date. Commented Jul 22, 2022 at 18:59
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1Impossible to destroy? You just resave the document with the new information on it.– cruthersCommented Jul 22, 2022 at 19:01