Appearance is not chronology
A clean typed copy may precede a handwritten draft, and an untidy sheet may contain the final changes. Establish version order through dates, explicit references, revision labels or other evidence supplied in the file. Do not use neatness, paper condition or confidence of wording as a substitute for a supported sequence.
Worked example: the missing clause
One version of a letter includes a request absent from another. A later reply addresses that request. This may help identify which wording reached the recipient, but only if the reply clearly refers to the same exchange. Another dated note could show that the request was made separately. The comparison should test the actual communication path, not merely arrange pages into the story that feels most natural.
Keep sequence and authority separate
Even after establishing which version came later, ask which one was sent, signed or acted on. Latest does not always mean operative. In your Somatry notes, record those statuses separately: drafted, revised, sent, acknowledged. A theory about someone's knowledge depends on the version they could have received, not automatically on the most complete version available to you as the reader of the case file.