Git Commands for Non-Technical Specialists
Hi everyone! My name is Katya, and I’m the CPO of Gramax.
Let me say what many of us already think: managing any team documentation in Word is clunky and inefficient.
The same goes for any system that lacks a clear versioning mechanism.
Version control is essential because it allows you to:
Track how a document has changed.
See who made the changes.
Understand what was changed.
Roll back to a previous version.
Merge versions together.
No matter how much knowledge base platforms try, nothing does this better than Git.
And if you think software development practices are too complex or time-consuming to learn — let me try to convince you otherwise.
Git Commands
Every Git command can be mapped to a common action you perform on a draft or finalized document.
This topic has been covered many times by Docs as Code enthusiasts.
So, let’s begin.
Latest Approved Version → Main Branch (Master)
In Git, the canonical and most stable version of your project lives in the main branch — just like your final or approved version of a document.
Essentially, it’s your “clean copy.”
Copying a File → Creating a Branch
When you want to make changes without touching the original document, instead of duplicating a file, you create a new branch in Git.
That’s your “draft.”
Copying Recent Updates to Your Version → Pull / Fetch
If multiple people are working on the same document in one branch, you don’t need to manually copy their updates.
Use the commands git pull or git fetch.
You’re literally saying: bring in the changes made by others.
Saving Changes → Commit
Until your changes are published, only you can see them.
To let your colleagues review your work, you first need to commit — this is how you save a snapshot of your progress.
Publishing → Git Push
When it’s time to publish your document to a website, use git push.
You can also use it just to back up your work to a remote server — useful if you don’t have a public site but still need to share your doc with the team.
Review → Pull Requests
When your draft is ready for publication, it needs to be reviewed by colleagues or a manager.
Instead of doing this via chat or email, Git uses pull requests.
Reviewers can clearly see what’s been changed and decide whether to approve or reject it.
Copying Text into the Final File → Merging
When you’ve finished your edits, instead of copying and pasting text from a draft into the final version, you simply merge the branches in Git.
Comparing Revisions → Git Diff
To see what changed between versions of your document, instead of comparing files manually, you use git diff.
How to Work with These Commands
You don’t have to use the console to run Git commands.
You can do it through any IDE or a dedicated app like Fork.
In Gramax, we’ve brought all these commands into a user-friendly interface so even non-technical specialists can easily work with them.
You can learn more about our basic concepts here.