diff --git a/src/documents/migrations/0012_add_document_version.py b/src/documents/migrations/0012_add_document_version.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5b262154f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/documents/migrations/0012_add_document_version.py
@@ -0,0 +1,153 @@
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import django.core.validators
+import django.db.models
+import django.db.models.deletion
+import django.utils.timezone
+from django.db import migrations
+from django.db import models
+
+
+class Migration(migrations.Migration):
+    dependencies = [
+        ("documents", "0011_alter_workflowaction_type"),
+    ]
+
+    operations = [
+        migrations.CreateModel(
+            name="DocumentVersion",
+            fields=[
+                (
+                    "id",
+                    models.AutoField(
+                        auto_created=True,
+                        primary_key=True,
+                        serialize=False,
+                        verbose_name="ID",
+                    ),
+                ),
+                (
+                    "version_number",
+                    models.PositiveSmallIntegerField(
+                        help_text="Sequential version number within this document, starting at 1.",
+                        verbose_name="version number",
+                    ),
+                ),
+                (
+                    "version_label",
+                    models.CharField(
+                        blank=True,
+                        help_text="Optional short label for this version.",
+                        max_length=64,
+                        null=True,
+                        verbose_name="version label",
+                    ),
+                ),
+                (
+                    "added",
+                    models.DateTimeField(
+                        db_index=True,
+                        default=django.utils.timezone.now,
+                        editable=False,
+                        verbose_name="added",
+                    ),
+                ),
+                (
+                    "checksum",
+                    models.CharField(
+                        editable=False,
+                        help_text="SHA-256 checksum of the original file for this version.",
+                        max_length=64,
+                        verbose_name="checksum",
+                    ),
+                ),
+                (
+                    "archive_checksum",
+                    models.CharField(
+                        blank=True,
+                        editable=False,
+                        max_length=64,
+                        null=True,
+                        verbose_name="archive checksum",
+                    ),
+                ),
+                (
+                    "content",
+                    models.TextField(
+                        blank=True,
+                        help_text="OCR text content of this version.",
+                        verbose_name="content",
+                    ),
+                ),
+                (
+                    "page_count",
+                    models.PositiveIntegerField(
+                        blank=True,
+                        null=True,
+                        validators=[django.core.validators.MinValueValidator(1)],
+                        verbose_name="page count",
+                    ),
+                ),
+                (
+                    "mime_type",
+                    models.CharField(
+                        editable=False,
+                        max_length=256,
+                        verbose_name="mime type",
+                    ),
+                ),
+                (
+                    "original_filename",
+                    models.CharField(
+                        blank=True,
+                        editable=False,
+                        max_length=1024,
+                        null=True,
+                        verbose_name="original filename",
+                    ),
+                ),
+                (
+                    "filename",
+                    models.FilePathField(
+                        default=None,
+                        editable=False,
+                        help_text="Stored filename for this version's original file.",
+                        max_length=1024,
+                        null=True,
+                        verbose_name="filename",
+                    ),
+                ),
+                (
+                    "archive_filename",
+                    models.FilePathField(
+                        default=None,
+                        editable=False,
+                        max_length=1024,
+                        null=True,
+                        verbose_name="archive filename",
+                    ),
+                ),
+                (
+                    "document",
+                    models.ForeignKey(
+                        on_delete=django.db.models.deletion.CASCADE,
+                        related_name="versions",
+                        to="documents.document",
+                        verbose_name="document",
+                    ),
+                ),
+            ],
+            options={
+                "verbose_name": "document version",
+                "verbose_name_plural": "document versions",
+                "ordering": ["-version_number"],
+            },
+        ),
+        migrations.AddConstraint(
+            model_name="documentversion",
+            constraint=models.UniqueConstraint(
+                fields=("document", "version_number"),
+                name="documents_documentversion_doc_number_uniq",
+            ),
+        ),
+    ]
diff --git a/src/documents/migrations/0012_document_root_document.py b/src/documents/migrations/0012_document_root_document.py
deleted file mode 100644
index c287be0dc..000000000
--- a/src/documents/migrations/0012_document_root_document.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,37 +0,0 @@
-# Generated by Django 5.1.6 on 2025-02-26 17:08
-
-import django.db.models.deletion
-from django.db import migrations
-from django.db import models
-
-
-class Migration(migrations.Migration):
-    dependencies = [
-        ("documents", "0011_alter_workflowaction_type"),
-    ]
-
-    operations = [
-        migrations.AddField(
-            model_name="document",
-            name="root_document",
-            field=models.ForeignKey(
-                blank=True,
-                null=True,
-                on_delete=django.db.models.deletion.CASCADE,
-                related_name="versions",
-                to="documents.document",
-                verbose_name="root document for this version",
-            ),
-        ),
-        migrations.AddField(
-            model_name="document",
-            name="version_label",
-            field=models.CharField(
-                blank=True,
-                help_text="Optional short label for a document version.",
-                max_length=64,
-                null=True,
-                verbose_name="version label",
-            ),
-        ),
-    ]
diff --git a/src/documents/migrations/0013_alter_paperlesstask_task_name.py b/src/documents/migrations/0013_alter_paperlesstask_task_name.py
index 46882d537..0243b5fa5 100644
--- a/src/documents/migrations/0013_alter_paperlesstask_task_name.py
+++ b/src/documents/migrations/0013_alter_paperlesstask_task_name.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ from django.db import models
 
 class Migration(migrations.Migration):
     dependencies = [
-        ("documents", "0012_document_root_document"),
+        ("documents", "0012_add_document_version"),
     ]
 
     operations = [
diff --git a/src/documents/migrations/0015_document_version_index_and_more.py b/src/documents/migrations/0015_document_version_index_and_more.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 5a817074c..000000000
--- a/src/documents/migrations/0015_document_version_index_and_more.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,37 +0,0 @@
-# Generated by Django 5.2.11 on 2026-03-02 17:48
-
-from django.conf import settings
-from django.db import migrations
-from django.db import models
-
-
-class Migration(migrations.Migration):
-    dependencies = [
-        ("documents", "0014_savedview_visibility_to_ui_settings"),
-        migrations.swappable_dependency(settings.AUTH_USER_MODEL),
-    ]
-
-    operations = [
-        migrations.AddField(
-            model_name="document",
-            name="version_index",
-            field=models.PositiveIntegerField(
-                blank=True,
-                db_index=True,
-                help_text="Index of this version within the root document.",
-                null=True,
-                verbose_name="version index",
-            ),
-        ),
-        migrations.AddConstraint(
-            model_name="document",
-            constraint=models.UniqueConstraint(
-                condition=models.Q(
-                    ("root_document__isnull", False),
-                    ("version_index__isnull", False),
-                ),
-                fields=("root_document", "version_index"),
-                name="documents_document_root_version_index_uniq",
-            ),
-        ),
-    ]
diff --git a/src/documents/migrations/0016_sha256_checksums.py b/src/documents/migrations/0015_sha256_checksums.py
similarity index 98%
rename from src/documents/migrations/0016_sha256_checksums.py
rename to src/documents/migrations/0015_sha256_checksums.py
index de1c6c596..51d0cf5d8 100644
--- a/src/documents/migrations/0016_sha256_checksums.py
+++ b/src/documents/migrations/0015_sha256_checksums.py
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ def recompute_checksums(apps, schema_editor):
 
 class Migration(migrations.Migration):
     dependencies = [
-        ("documents", "0015_document_version_index_and_more"),
+        ("documents", "0014_savedview_visibility_to_ui_settings"),
     ]
 
     operations = [
diff --git a/src/documents/migrations/0017_migrate_fulltext_query_field_prefixes.py b/src/documents/migrations/0016_migrate_fulltext_query_field_prefixes.py
similarity index 96%
rename from src/documents/migrations/0017_migrate_fulltext_query_field_prefixes.py
rename to src/documents/migrations/0016_migrate_fulltext_query_field_prefixes.py
index 040780a60..cc3b8e1f2 100644
--- a/src/documents/migrations/0017_migrate_fulltext_query_field_prefixes.py
+++ b/src/documents/migrations/0016_migrate_fulltext_query_field_prefixes.py
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ def migrate_fulltext_query_field_prefixes(apps, schema_editor):
 
 class Migration(migrations.Migration):
     dependencies = [
-        ("documents", "0016_sha256_checksums"),
+        ("documents", "0015_sha256_checksums"),
     ]
 
     operations = [
diff --git a/src/documents/migrations/0018_saved_view_simple_search_rules.py b/src/documents/migrations/0017_saved_view_simple_search_rules.py
similarity index 98%
rename from src/documents/migrations/0018_saved_view_simple_search_rules.py
rename to src/documents/migrations/0017_saved_view_simple_search_rules.py
index 6d128c593..0a6624478 100644
--- a/src/documents/migrations/0018_saved_view_simple_search_rules.py
+++ b/src/documents/migrations/0017_saved_view_simple_search_rules.py
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ def migrate_saved_view_rules_forward(apps, schema_editor):
 
 class Migration(migrations.Migration):
     dependencies = [
-        ("documents", "0017_migrate_fulltext_query_field_prefixes"),
+        ("documents", "0016_migrate_fulltext_query_field_prefixes"),
     ]
 
     operations = [
diff --git a/src/documents/tests/search/test_migration_fulltext_query_field_prefixes.py b/src/documents/tests/search/test_migration_fulltext_query_field_prefixes.py
index 739ea996c..7cdb52cdc 100644
--- a/src/documents/tests/search/test_migration_fulltext_query_field_prefixes.py
+++ b/src/documents/tests/search/test_migration_fulltext_query_field_prefixes.py
@@ -6,8 +6,8 @@ pytestmark = pytest.mark.search
 
 
 class TestMigrateFulltextQueryFieldPrefixes(TestMigrations):
-    migrate_from = "0016_sha256_checksums"
-    migrate_to = "0017_migrate_fulltext_query_field_prefixes"
+    migrate_from = "0015_sha256_checksums"
+    migrate_to = "0016_migrate_fulltext_query_field_prefixes"
 
     def setUpBeforeMigration(self, apps) -> None:
         User = apps.get_model("auth", "User")
diff --git a/src/documents/tests/test_migration_sha256_checksums.py b/src/documents/tests/test_migration_sha256_checksums.py
index 4a53b724c..07beddc47 100644
--- a/src/documents/tests/test_migration_sha256_checksums.py
+++ b/src/documents/tests/test_migration_sha256_checksums.py
@@ -17,8 +17,8 @@ def _sha256(data: bytes) -> str:
 class TestSha256ChecksumDataMigration(TestMigrations):
     """recompute_checksums correctly updates document checksums from MD5 to SHA256."""
 
-    migrate_from = "0015_document_version_index_and_more"
-    migrate_to = "0016_sha256_checksums"
+    migrate_from = "0014_savedview_visibility_to_ui_settings"
+    migrate_to = "0015_sha256_checksums"
     reset_sequences = True
 
     ORIGINAL_CONTENT = b"original file content for sha256 migration test"