Using the History Panel in Dreamweaver CS6
Synopsis: The History panel keeps track of the operations you perform on a document. You can use the History panel to undo or redo steps, and you can even use it to automate your work.
The History panel records the operations that you perform on an open document. To open the History panel, select the appropriate entry on the Window menu. Here is the History panel after several operations have been performed on a document.
The History panel starts recording these steps when you create or open a document, and stops recording them when you close the document. There is a separate History panel list for each open document.
The first (oldest) step is at the top of the list, and the last (most recent) is at the bottom.
There is a slider on the left of the History panel, and when you open the History panel it points at the most recent operation.
The History panel has its own Options menu, and this includes a Clear History command. This can be used to delete the history (and so free up memory) when you know you don’t need any history any more.
To undo a number of operations, drag the slider up to the first (oldest) of the operations you want to undo. As you drag, you will see that operations are “grayed out” as they are undone. Stop at the last operation you want to keep. The steps you have undone are still in the History panel list, but now they are grayed out and they will be deleted when you perform a new operation.
Having undone some operations, you can redo them by dragging the slider downwards to the last (most recent) one that you want redone. Those operations will then no longer be grayed out in the History panel list.
As an alternative to dragging the slider, you can select the operation to undo or redo to by clicking the slider bar next to it. The slider will move to that position.
It is also possible to replay steps in the history. For example suppose that an image has been resized. To resize another image on the page to the same size, select the second image, open the History panel, and replay the reszing operation or operations. To replay one operation, click it in the History panel list. To replay several, select the first in the list, hold down the Shift key and select the last, then click the Replay button at the bottom of the History panel.
If any step in the list in the History panel cannot be saved or replayed, Dreamweaver indicates this with a red X.
It is also possible to copy history steps between documents, or to save them as commands.
The maximum number of history steps that can be saved has a default value of 50, but this can be changed in the General category in Preferences.
The History panel is not intended to replace the Undo and Redo buttons and menu commands, but is rather meant to supplement them with a more powerful and flexible alternative.
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Simon Calder
Chris “Simon” Calder was working as a Project Manager in IT for one of Los Angeles’ most prestigious cultural institutions, LACMA.He taught himself to use Microsoft Project from a giant textbook and hated every moment of it. Online learning was in its infancy then, but he spotted an opportunity and made an online MS Project course - the rest, as they say, is history!
