The History palette lists all actions performed on the active image. The most recent action is at the top of the list, and the first action performed is at the bottom of the list. You can select an individual action to modify by clicking its name in the History palette, or select multiple actions by holding down Shift (to select adjacent actions) or Ctrl (to select non-adjacent actions).
After applying any number of actions to an image, you can use the History palette to:
Undo any listed action by
clicking its Undo/Redo button , or by highlighting
the item name and then pressing the Undo
to here button
on the History palette's toolbar.
Both methods perform an "Undo to here" function, undoing the
action you clicked as well as all subsequent actions (which are listed
above the action you clicked). The undone actions will be denoted with
a yellow X
.
Redo an undone action by
again clicking its Undo/Redo button,
or by highlighting the item name and then pressing the Redo
to here button on the History palette's toolbar.
Both methods perform a "Redo to here" function, redoing the
action you clicked as well as all preceding actions (which are listed
below the action you clicked). The redone actions will no longer have
an X of any color over their eye icon. Note that selectively undone actions
(denoted with a red X) that precede the action you clicked will not be
redone. These actions can only be redone via the Redo selected command
described below.
Selectively undo an action
by holding down Ctrl and clicking
its Undo/Redo button, or by highlighting
the item name and then pressing the Undo
selected button on the History palette toolbar. Selectively
undone actions will be denoted by a red X
. Be aware that
a selectively undone action can yield unintended or unexpected results
depending on its relationship to subsequent actions. Refer to the section
Using the Selective Undo Feature Carefully below for more information.
Redo a selectively undone
action by highlighting the item name and then pressing the Redo
selected button on the History palette toolbar, or
by Ctrl-clicking it again.
The table below lists the function of each undo/redo-related button in the History palette.
|
Click a History palette item name and then click this button to undo the item and all actions that followed it. Clicking this button is equivalent to clicking an item's eye icon. |
|
Click an undone (yellow X) History palette item name and then click this button to redo the action and any other undone actions preceding it. Clicking this button is equivalent to clicking an item's yellow-X eye icon. |
|
Click a History palette item name and then click this button to selectively undo the item. Be aware that this may or may not affect subsequent actions, and may not yield the intented results. Clicking this button is equivalent to holding down Ctrl and clicking an item's eye icon. |
|
Click a selectively undone History palette item name and then click this button to redo the action. Clicking this button is equivalent to holding down Ctrl and clicking an item's red-X eye icon |
|
Click this button to convert all selectively undone actions into non-undoable commands (commands that can no longer be undone or redone). You'll be prompted whether or not to perform this action. |
|
Click this button to show or hide the non-undoable commands. When shown, non-undoable items will be listed in gray (denoting that they're inactive/unavailable). |
|
Click this button to convert all History palette items into non-undoable commands. You'll be prompted whether or not to perform this action. |
Right-click on a selected History palette item (or group of selected items) to display the context menu, which contains all History palette-related commands.
You can still use the Standard toolbar's Undo and Redo
buttons, press Ctrl+Z or Ctrl+Alt+Z,
or choose Edit > Undo / Redo to undo or redo actions in the
order they were performed. Using these methods will update the History
palette Undo/Redo button to the appropriate state (
for undone
items, and
for
redone items). Be aware, however, that selectively undoing an action can
only be performed via the History palette.
The History palette's selective undo feature is powerful and convenient, but under certain circumstances may not be the ideal course of action. Shown below are two examples showing the results of the selective undo feature.
Click here to see an image containing five individual paint strokes placed left to right across the image.
Click here to see what happens when we selectively undo the second and third strokes.
Click here to see a photo that could benefit from straightening as well as the Fill Flash filter applied to the foreground.
Click here to see the photo after being straightened with the Straighten tool and cropped by marking the Crop image option in the Tool Options palette.
Click here to see a Freehand selection of the foreground area.
Click here to see the Fill Flash filter (with the Strength setting of 60) applied to the selection.
Click here
to see what happens when we selectively undo the straightening by clicking
the Undo selected button on the History palette toolbar. Clearly this adversely affected
the Freehand selection and the Fill Flash applied to it.