The Timeline view allows you to compare changes to eCFR content across time. When viewing content, the timeline utility menu item on the left side of the document will allow you to view all changes to the content within the system.
The Timeline view provides an overview of all changes to the content you are viewing since 2017. The links allow you to directly navigate to a view of the content on a date in the past, see a comparison view highlighting changes introduced on a date, or a comparison of a historical date to the current content of CFR.
Cross-reference entries are added under specific content headings in the eCFR hierarchy to provide notification of future regulatory changes. These entries include links that let users preview upcoming amendments to the portion of the eCFR being viewed and the effective date of the amendments.
After the effective date has passed, the regulatory changes are added, and the content is updated. The timeline links for those cross-reference entries may be less helpful, as they highlight the addition of the cross-references themselves rather than regulatory content changes.
If you’re primarily interested in changes to the content, you may prefer to ignore entries marked with outlined square □ (vs the standard filled square ■). To make this easier, you can enable the toggle in the upper right corner of the timeline list to hide cross-reference-only entries. When enabled, the system will remember your preference and hide these entries by default. You can toggle back to display all timeline entries of the viewed content if you desire.
By default, the version of the regulations shown in eCFR is the current version, as is indicated in the blue bar in the screenshot above. You can also view the content as it was in the past, by clicking on the “view historical versions” link or on the calendar “Go to Date” icon.
Clicking either of those will open up a pane where you can enter a date. Entering “01/01/2018” takes you to the page in the following screenshot (live version here.) Note the yellow bar indicating historical content and the date that you selected and the altered content. Below we will show you how to inspect what content is altered in Compare Dates View.
You can compare content on two dates in several ways. You can use the Timeline and select “view change introduced,” or “compare to most recent,” or you can compare any two dates by clicking on the “Compare Dates” tab on the left navigation bar.
For example, clicking on the “view change introduced” link in the timeline will show you a page like the screenshot below. There is a note at the top of the page indicating what versions of the content you are viewing. Content that has been removed from the later version is indicated on a red background with strikethrough, content that has been added is on a green background.
The “eCFR Changes” bar at the bottom of the page allows you to quickly go to the next or previous group of changes, or if you are at the last of the changes, it will take you to the top of the page.
The “Compare Dates” menu gives you options to change the dates you are comparing as well as customize the display of changes.
You can view all recent changes to titles, chapters, and subchapters in two ways. From the table of contents, if you click on the Timeline navigation button, you will see that although “Timeline views are not currently available for tables of contents” you can view a list of all recent changes by clicking a link.
This will show you a listing of the regulatory content areas below that level that have recently changed.
From there you can navigate to the individual sections of content that have changed in the Comparison View.
You can also navigate to Recent Changes from the top navigation
or from the home page you can see get a link to all changes to a title for the previous six months by clicking on “view changes.”
You can create a subscription to view any eCFR content by clicking on the “Subscribe” link on a page of interest.
If you do not have an eCFR account you will be asked to create one. Subscribing will cause eCFR to send you email whenever the selected content has changed. If you are logged in, you can manage your subscriptions via the “My eCFR >> My Subscriptions” link. You can also subscribe to search results.