The latest Macs pack plenty of built-in offerings, catering to casual and power users. And while macOS Sonoma is famous for its advanced features, it supports many smaller ones that some of us take for granted. These include the undo and redo functionalities that can be triggered in multiple ways. Here’s all that you’ll need to know about the Command + Z shortcut and its opposite.
The importance of undo and redo on macOS
These basic functionalities can restore hours’ worth of work
Before we get to the actual steps, what’s undo and redo all about? Undo, as its name suggests, undoes the last action you’ve executed or text you’ve typed. It works similarly across many apps, depending on the context. For example, using undo in the Finder app after duplicating a file will undo this action and remove the duplicate. Meanwhile, hitting undo while typing in the Notes app will delete the last thing you’ve typed.
However, sometimes we accidentally hit undo and lose valuable work in the process. Fortunately, redo acts as an undo functionality for the undo itself. So, when you redo the aforementioned action in Finder, the removed duplicate file will reappear. Similarly, the text deleted in the Notes app by undo will reappear when you click redo. As a result, redo, naturally, is only available after you use the undo feature.
How to undo and redo using your keyboard
This method is the fastest for most users
If your workflow heavily revolves around keyboard input, the following macOS keyboard shortcuts are the fastest way to trigger undo or redo.
- To Undo, hold on the Command button, then hit Z.
- To Redo (or do the opposite of Command + Z), hold the Command and Shift buttons, then hit Z.
How to undo and redo using the Mac’s menu bar
This alternative doesn’t rely on keyboard input
If you’d rather not use the keyboard shortcut, you can undo and redo from the menu bar.
- To Undo, tap Edit> Undo in the menu bar.
- To Redo, tap Edit, then Redo in the menu bar.
Undo and redo are powerful Mac features
As you can see, despite being rather simple, the undo and redo features on macOS are quite powerful and handy. It’s common for users to select and delete a large block of text accidentally. In these cases, undo and redo act as a safety net we can fall back on.
Remember that support for undo and redo may vary between apps, and some applications may block these functionalities completely. It’s also worth noting that you can hit undo multiple consecutive times to reverse several past actions during a session rather than just the last one.