User Guide Cancel

Undo edits and manage History panel

Learn how to undo, redo, or revert changes in InDesign, and use the History panel to view and manage the state of your design.

Easily manage document changes with undo and redo commands in InDesign, or use the History panel to view, revise, and navigate through your document's states.

Try the latest features and enhancements.

Undo and Redo edits

The Undo and Redo options let you reverse or reapply changes in the document, helping you correct mistakes as you work. You can't undo or redo changes after you reopen a document.

To undo or redo, select Edit > Undo (Ctrl/Cmd + Z) or Edit > Redo (Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + Z).

a dialog showing Undo and redo options

Revert to the last saved version

You can also revert (File > Revert) a file to the last saved version. However, the Revert option doesn't work if you reopen the file or document.

a dialog showing revert option

Manage document states using the History panel

You can use the History panel to jump to any recent state of the document you created during the current working session in InDesign. Each time you make changes to the document, your actions are added as new states to the History panel. 

Follow the steps below to open and use the History panel:

  1. Select Window > History.

  2. To redo a specific change, select the state or select Step Forward from the History panel menu   .

  3. To undo a specific change, select the state or select Step Backward from the History panel menu   .

  4. To create a new document from the selected state, select the state and select   from the History panel. This opens a new, unsaved document in a new tab in InDesign, without retaining the history states of the previous document.

  5. To delete a specific state, select the state and select      from the History panel. This deletes the state and all subsequent states below it.

  6. To remove all the states from the History panel without changing the document, select Clear History from the History panel menu   .

Callouts
History panel

A. History panel menu B. Create a new document C. Delete 

Tip:
  • You can use the History panel menu   to delete a specific state, clear the document's history, or create a new document from the selected state.
  • You can select the state in the History panel and right-click to delete or create a new document.

Things to keep in mind

  • Application-based changes, such as changes to panels, color settings, actions, and preferences, are not reflected in the History panel because they are not changes to a particular document.
  • The History panel saves up to the previous 25000 states. The older states are automatically removed from the History panel if they exceed the limit.
  • When you close and reopen the document, all states are cleared from the panel from the last working session.
  • By default, selecting a state and then changing the design eliminates all states that come after it.
  • The Delete and Clear History actions are irreversible.
  • The History panel displays content for unsaved documents and retains the history once you select Save or Save As for the first time.

More like this

Have a question or an idea?

Ask the Community

We would love to hear from you. Share your thoughts with the Adobe InDesign Community

Get help faster and easier

New user?