

The Undo History panel is extremely useful, so you might want to undock it by clicking the icon and dragging it out onto the workspace. Get comfortable switching back and forth between several steps worth of Undos and Redos, and work those keyboard shortcuts! You can also customize them to a more natural and comfortable pairing by opening the Edit menu and choosing Keyboard Shortcuts. You can even stack your Undos and Redos several repetitions deep to compare more complex edit processes, without having to switch to the Undo history panel (more on that below). Hit Ctrl + Z, fix the image in your mind, and then press Ctrl + Y to Redo so you can compare the effect of your last edit step (Cmd + Z and Cmd + Y on Mac). I’ve always found that pairing the Undo and Redo commands together is a great way to quickly compare different editing options. Ctrl + Y ( Command + Y for Mac) are the shortcut keys. Redo the action you just undid by going to the Edit menu and choosing Redo.

You can also undo your Undo command if you realize that it was actually a ‘happy accident,’ as legendary painting instructor Bob Ross would call it. How to Use Undo in Your GIMP WorkflowĪ simple and universal command like Undo might not seem like a crucial part of good image editing practice, but you’ll be surprised how much you come to rely on it. If you’re looking for more control over your editing steps and how you use the Undo command, you can read on to learn about minimum Undo steps, Undo memory usage, and the most helpful tool of all: the Undo history panel. Undo should become so natural that you don’t even have to think about it.

That’s all there is to it! It’s a good idea to get comfortable using the keyboard shortcut, so you can experiment quickly and then undo your changes if they don’t work out, all without breaking the flow of your edit. You can also use the universal keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Z to Undo – or if you’re on a Mac, the Command + Z shortcut does the same job. Simply open the Edit menu in the menu bar and choose Undo. Undoing your last action works the same way in GIMP as in most other programs.

Enter the most useful feature of any computer program: the Undo command! Editing digital images can be a fun project, but even the most skilled editors can make a mistake while they’re working.
