Tip for 11/29- History States...

[angedawn]

I'm assuming that everyone knows about the History Pallette, where your actions are recorded and you can go back (more than just one step) and undo the steps you have taken on your image?

So, my next question is this... are you getting the total value out of your "history states". You can go to Edit>Preferences>General and then there is a small box about 1/3 the way down that says "History States". I believe the default on that number is 20. Sometimes you want to go back more than 20 steps... so set that number to whatever you would like. 99 is the highest that I can set mine to... but really if you have to go back more than 99 steps... well maybe it's just time to start over! lol!

But, the higher your history states are set at, the more memory the program is going to use. (I hope I am saying this correctly... it's starting to blur into the technical side of things.. and well, just ask my husband how much I really know about how the computer "runs"... it's not much!). So, if you are having problems with your memory and things, you probably don't want to reset your history states higher. Most users won't have an issue with it though.

Hope this helps someone out! :)

Have a great week.

[Nevermore]

I just love this column! You are doing a great job covering off different things to know about PS.

I thought I would add this nugget for anyone who is interested. I often do exceeding complex layouts (yeah, I know, might not look like it) that are many many layers with umpteen bit of tweaking done to them. I don't set my history state much higher than 50 because it does bog things down a little. And I can quickly use up 50 states. So every now and then when I think I am at a significant stage of development, I take a snapshot of my work. This is the little camera icon on the history states palette. If I go off the rails, I can click on that shot (icon at the top of the history palette) and my layout will revert back to that state.

This may be overkill for some but as I said, I tend to fool around ad nasuem with a layout and every time I do something, that is a history state. Once you reach the max, the earlier ones are deleted so you can't go back. The snapshot lets you work around that because they are not deleted unless you delete them.

[anotheraddict]

I'm learning new things every day. THanks, didn't know I could change that.

[bellbird]

oh wow - what great tips ange and nevermore - TY - sometimes i ned to go back more than the default because I use an action and then i decide i don't want to use that action and if it has multiple steps i'm stuck! wouldn't happen to know a shortcut to undoing actions would you? (actually nevermore's snapshot idea would work for that wouldn't it?! )