Tip #15

The UNDO option and the History panel

In the Document window, one of the choices under Edit is Undo. As you are working with a document and make changes of any type to the document, you can use this option to Undo a previous action or a series of actions. Once the file is closed, however, the Undo is cleared. The Undo option is related to the History panel.

In the 2004 release of Dreamweaver, you can turn on the display of the History panel by going to Window and selecting History. In Dreamweaver MX, you go to Window, then select Others, and History is one of the choices. The History panel shows a list of all the steps you've performed in the active document since you created or opened that document. (The History panel doesn't show steps you've performed in other frames, in other document windows, or in the files/site window.) It allows you to undo one or more steps; it also allows you to replay steps and to create new commands to automate repetitive tasks.

You can use the History panel to undo multiple steps at once. To undo the last step, drag the History panel slider up one step in the list. This has the same effect as choosing Edit, then Undo. The undone step turns gray.

To undo multiple steps at once, drag the slider to point to any step; click to the left of a step along the path of the slider; the slider scrolls automatically to that step, undoing steps as it scrolls.

The initial default is for Dreamweaver to save last 50 steps. This is controlled under the Preferences display. Click on Edit, then Preferences and select General on the left side.

Saving a document does not clear the history information. Closing the document does clear the history information.