Option
Last updated on
2 December 2025
Explore History panel settings in Adobe Photoshop to manage image states, customize snapshots, and enhance your editing workflow.
The History panel in Photoshop lets you quickly access recent states of your image during the current session. Each change you make, like selecting, painting, or rotating, is recorded separately. When you select one of the states, the image reverts to how it looked when that change was first applied. You can then work from that state.
You can also delete states from the History panel and create a new document from a specific state or snapshot.
To use the History panel (Window > History) effectively, you can follow the best practices and explore customization options.
Best practices
- Use snapshots to preserve key states during your session.
- Adjust the number of history states under Preferences > Performance to suit your workflow. By default, the History panel lists 20 states. You can increase it to 1,000 states for more complex editing sessions.
- Select Allow Non-Linear History to edit from any state without deleting future ones.
- Track edits efficiently by following the sequence. Older changes appear first, with newer ones added as you work.
- Use Undo to restore deleted states after editing from a previous one. Learn more about the Undo and Redo commands overview.
Tip
Closing the document clears all history states and snapshots. The initial state snapshot appears first in the History panel. Dimmed states show edits that will be lost if you continue from a selected state.
Menu options
Customize history states and snapshots from the History Options dialog box. You can access this from the History panel (Menu > History Options).
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Description |
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Automatically Create First Snapshot |
Saves a snapshot of the initial state of the image when opened. |
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Automatically Create New Snapshot When Saving |
Generates a snapshot every time you save the document. It is off by default. |
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Allow Non-Linear History |
Allows you to edit a selected state without deleting subsequent states. |
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Prompts you for a name when creating snapshots. |
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Make Layer Visibility Changes Undoable |
Records the turning of layer visibility on or off as a history step. Deselect this option to exclude layer visibility changes. |
