Automate tasks

The History panel records the steps you take when you complete a task. Automate a frequently performed task by replaying those steps from the History panel or creating a new command that performs the steps automatically.

Certain mouse movements, such as selecting by clicking in the Document window, can’t be played back or saved. When you make such a movement, a black line appears in the History panel (the line does not become obvious until you perform another action). To avoid this, use the arrow keys instead of the mouse to move the insertion point within the Document window

Some other steps also aren’t repeatable, such as dragging a page element to somewhere else on the page. When you perform such a step, an icon with a small red X appears in the History panel.

Saved commands are retained permanently (unless you delete them), while recorded commands are discarded when you exit from Adobe Dreamweaver, and copied sequences of steps are discarded when you copy something else

Use the History panel

The History panel (Window > History) shows a list of the steps you’ve performed in the active document since you created or opened that document (but not steps you’ve performed in other frames, in other Document windows, or in the Site panel). Use the History panel to undo multiple steps at once and to automate tasks.

The slider, or thumb, in the History panel initially points to the last step that you performed.

Undo the last step

Undo multiple steps at once

Set the number of steps that the History panel retains and shows

The default number of steps is sufficient for most users’ needs. The higher the number, the more memory the History panel requires, which can affect performance and slow your computer significantly.

Erase the history list for the current document:

Repeat steps

Use the History panel to repeat the last step you performed, repeat a series of adjacent steps, or repeat a series of nonadjacent steps. Replay the steps directly from the History panel.

Repeat one step

Repeat a series of steps

Make or extend a selection

Apply steps in the History panel to objects

You can apply a set of steps from the History panel to any object in the Document window.

If you select multiple objects and then apply steps to them from the History panel, the objects are treated as a single selection and Dreamweaver attempts to apply the steps to that combined selection; however, you can apply a set of steps only to a single object at a time.

To apply the steps to each object in a set of objects, you must make the last step in the series select the next object in the set. The second procedure demonstrates this principle in a specific scenario: setting the vertical and horizontal spacing of a series of images.

Apply steps to one other object

Apply steps to multiple objects

Copy and paste steps between documents

Each open document has its own history of steps. You can copy steps from one document and paste them into another.

Closing a document clears its history. If you know you will want to use steps from a document later, copy or save the steps before you close the document.

Create and use commands from history steps

Save a set of history steps as a named command, which then becomes available in the Commands menu. Create and save a new command if you might use a set of steps again, especially the next time you start Dreamweaver.

Create a command

Use a saved command

Edit a command name

Delete a name from the Commands menu

Record and save commands

Record a temporary command for short-term use, or record and save a command to use later. Dreamweaver retains only one recorded command at a time; as soon as you start recording a new command, the old command is lost, unless you save it before recording the new command.

Temporarily record a series of steps

Play back a recorded command

Save a recorded command