
The undo button also has a drop-down menu. If you have used the undo function, the button will change to be the redo button. If you click it, whatever you did last (for example typing a specific word) will be repeated again. If you haven’t recently used the undo function, the forward arrow is a repeat function. There, you will see two arrows – a back one and a forward one. The other option to use the undo and redo functions in Word is via the top menu bar. If you want to undo only some of your steps but not others, you’ll have to undo as many as needed and manually redo the other ones – Word does not let you pick and choose. If you have undone three edits and you press Ctrl + Y, Word will redo the earliest undone action.

Press Ctrl + Y (Cmd + Y on a Mac) on your keyboard. If you’ve pressed Ctrl + Z one too many times, you can still move forward by one work step again. You can do this several times in a row, but there is a limit on how much you can undo. The last thing you edited will be undone. Help users increase productivity by automatically signing up for TechRepublic’s free Microsoft Office Suite newsletter, featuring Word, Excel, and Access tips, delivered each Wednesday.In order to use keyboard shortcuts to undo a mistake you’ve made, simply press Ctrl + Z (Cmd + Z on a Mac) on your keyboard. Miss a tip?Ĭheck out the Microsoft Word archive, and catch up on our most recent Word tips. The bottom line is: Even withĭon’t forget to save your documents on a regular basis. If you haven’t saved the file up to the last cut and paste, you will You saved the file before you performed the undo operations, you can close theįile without saving, and then open the saved file with all your past edits Unfortunately, the Cut command totally clears the Redo list. Mind and decide to redo everything to get it back to where it was before theĬut and paste. Then, you cut and paste a paragraph from another page.


It tells us “Can’t redo.” While you can have an unlimited number of undos and redos, Word’s CutĬommand can wipe out all redos in a second.įor example, suppose you click the Undo button five times onĪ page. Whatever we try to do with our document, it seems that undo can always get itīack to where we want it that is until one day we click on the redo button and IT pros often assume they can do almost anything to Wordĭocuments and then fall back on undo and redo if they get into trouble. Did you know that if you use the cut command in Word, it can take away all the redos you've done up to that point? Mary Ann Richardson explains how to backtrack even when Word won't let you redo.
