Learning how to undo mistakes in Adobe Photoshop is an essential skill. In this video tutorial, I will teach you how to undo everything from a minor boo boo to a major Photoshop disaster!
We all make mistakes when we are working in Adobe Photoshop. Mistakes, and experiments, are an essential part of the image editing process. Fortunately, removing mistakes in Adobe Photoshop couldn’t be easier as long as you set yourself up for success from the get go.
If you make a single mistake, like an accidental brush stroke, in Photoshop then all that that you have to do is to use the Edit > Undo command to take your mistake away. The keyboard shortcut for Edit > Undo is Command + Z on a Mac or Control + Z on a PC.
When the Undo option is not enough in Photoshop then it’s time to open up the History Panel. The History feature in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic and History feature in Adobe Photoshop are very similar but are two important differences between them.
First, History in Photoshop flows in the opposite direction than it does in Lightroom Classic. In Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic, the steps that you followed while you were editing your image are listed out with the oldest change at the bottom of the History panel and your most recent adjustments up at the top of the stack.
In Adobe Photoshop though things are listed out in the opposite direction. In Photoshop, the oldest event is recorded at the top of the History stack and your most recent changes are down at the bottom of this panel.
There is one other very important difference too between the way that History functions in these two programs. In Lightroom, there is no limit to the number of steps that the history panel can record and your image’s editing history remain in your Catalog from one Develop session to another.
In Adobe Photoshop, unfortunately, the History panel will only record the last twenty things that you did. When you add your twenty-first brush stroke, or add whatever type of change that you are making, then the oldest event is discarded from the top of the stack.
In addition, your image’s editing History is not preserved from one Adobe Photoshop editing session to another. Unlike in Lightroom, if you work on an image in Adobe Photoshop and then you close out of the program the events in that documents edit history are purged away.
Fear not though because there are two other powerful features in Adobe Photoshop that can save you even if you have made a horrible mistake. Sophisticated Adobe Photoshop users learn to use the File > Revert command and the power of Layers to save themselves after making serious blunders.
Mastering all of these tips, particularly the flexibility that we gain in Photoshop by working with Layers, should make you feel empowered to work away on your photographs in Adobe Photoshop CC without any fear!
