The following sections describe the tasks you perform in a Change Palette tab. The order of the sections follows the typical order of tasks. But the Change Palette is a long-lived "work environment", not a simple dialog box or sequential wizard. So you might perform just some of the tasks and/or perform them in a different order.
If you've loaded versions into the Change Palette using the Send to Change Palette command, you've already indicated the source stream, but need to specify the destination stream or workspace. (The drag-and-drop operation indicates both the source and destination.)
A dialog appears, listing all of the depot's streams and workspaces. Select one to be the destination for subsequent commands (
Send to Workspace,
Promote,
Merge, and/or
Patch) on the versions in the Specified Versions pane.
As the example shows, AccuRev determines a status for each element, describing the relationship between the source-stream version and the destination-stream version. Entries with
(overlap) status are highlighted in yellow.
Select one or more eligible versions, then click the
button in the pane's toolbar or choose Promote (or
Send to Workspace) from the selection's context menu. When the command completes, the entry(s) for the version(s) are cleared from the Change Palette.
In the Merged Versions pane, you can Promote versions at any time. The versions are active in the workspace listed in the Merged in Workspace column;
Promote sends them to this workspace's backing stream.
If an entry in the Specified Versions pane has (overlap) status, you cannot immediately promote the version to the destination stream. First, you must create a new version by merging the source and destination versions.
Select one or more versions with (overlap) status, and click the

button in the pane's toolbar or choose
Merge from the selection's context menu.
A merged version cannot be created directly in either the source or destination stream, because these are
dynamic streams — all new versions of AccuRev elements must be originally created in workspaces.

The first time you invoke Merge in the Specified Versions pane, AccuRev prompts you to establish a merge workspace, suggesting one that is based on the destination stream. You can also choose a workspace based on the source stream.
A workspace based on the destination stream is preferable. After you perform the merge, you can then accomplish the original task -- propagating a version's changes to the destination stream -- with a single
Promote. If you use a workspace based on the source stream, you'll need to
Promote twice: (1) from the merge workspace to the source stream; (2) from the source stream to the destination stream. The second one requires you to use another instance of the Change Palette.
After you select a merge workspace, its name is displayed at the bottom of the Specified Versions pane. You can change this setting at any time; this enables you to use different workspaces to merge different versions.

If an entry in the Specified Versions pane has (patch) status, you can invoke the
Patch command to incorporate the patch defined by the Version and Basis Version settings into the destination-stream version. Select one or more of these versions, and click the

button in the pane's toolbar or choose
Patch from the selection's context menu. AccuRev prompts you to select a workspace that belongs to you and is based on the destination stream. The patch operation is performed in this workspace, as described in
Patches and Change Packages on page 170.