Edit History & Undo
Every edit you make to a result is saved as a step. The HISTORY section in the Editor’s right sidebar lists the steps, and ⌘Z / Ctrl+Z walks back through them.
This isn’t the strip of stacked results along the bottom of the Editor. That strip holds different images. See Compare & Session History.
The HISTORY timeline
Section titled “The HISTORY timeline”HISTORY sits under Adjustments in Advanced mode. It stays hidden until a result has an edit.
The newest step is at the top. Stacked (original) at the bottom is the result as it came out of stacking.
- Click any row to take the image back to that point.
- Rows above your current step are dimmed. Click one to go forward again.
- A new edit while stepped back removes the dimmed rows.
Undo and redo
Section titled “Undo and redo”| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
⌘Z / Ctrl+Z | Undo one step |
⌘⇧Z / Ctrl+Shift+Z | Redo one step |
⌘⌥Z / Ctrl+Alt+Z | Turn the last edit off and on, to see whether it helped |
Undo works per image. To undo something on another result, switch to it first.
What counts as a step
Section titled “What counts as a step”- Slider changes, on each mask. One drag is one step.
- Pixel edits: each Retouch stroke, Spot Correct and Defringe gesture. They become steps when you click Apply, so you can undo them after you leave the tool.
Crop, switching masks and changing the Look aren’t steps. Your steps carry over when you change the Look.
Reopened DNGs
Section titled “Reopened DNGs”A saved DNG keeps your edit history. Reopen it and the timeline comes back.
On a reopened file, pixel-edit rows are dimmed. Click one and Macro Studio runs a one-time Rebuilding edit history pass from your source frames. After that, the whole timeline steps instantly. This needs:
- Your source frames on disk. If you’ve moved them, open Retouch to find them.
- A DNG. TIFF and JPEG files carry no edit history.
A Raw DNG can’t rebuild, so its pixel-edit rows stay dimmed. To step back through pixel edits later, also save a Macro Studio DNG.
Limits
Section titled “Limits”- A result keeps up to 1,000 steps.
- When pixel edits use a lot of memory, the oldest become dimmed rows. Click one to rebuild it.
- A saved DNG keeps up to 500 steps around your current step, so a file saved mid-undo keeps its redo steps.
See also
Section titled “See also”- Compare & Session History: the strip of stacked results.
- Retouch, Spot Correct, Defringe: the tools whose pixel edits become steps.
- Saving: which formats keep your edit history.