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Revision Date: 15 January 2023

History Window History Window icon

Every action performed on an image within the current session is listed in the History Window. Some tools and actions like creation and modification of a selection also appear in the list of actions.

History Window
History Window

Show/Hide the History Window

The History Window can be hidden by pressing the F6 key or clicking the History Window icon.

History Window icon
History Window icon

Clicking the History icon or pressing F6 key again toggles the visibility of the window back on.

Resetting the History Window location

The window can be reset to its original position and size (including docking) by pressing Ctrl + Shift + F6 or by holding down Ctrl + Shift and clicking the History Window icon.

Relocating the History Window

The History Window can be relocated by clicking and dragging it by the title bar.

Using the History Window

Every action performed on an image in the current session is added to the list in the History Window.

Note

Closing paint.net or closing the image itself removes the entire editing history, clearing it entirely.  There is no way to recover an images' editing history once paint.net or the image is closed.

The history list can be used to step backward or forward through the changes made to the image.

To review the changes to the image, use Undo, Redo or click on an entry in the History Window.  The image will be rewound to the chosen point.

Tip

Toggle between one entry and the previous one by clicking repeatedly on the same entry in the History Window.  This is an easy way to review the changes that the target action made to the image

If an action has been undone, it appears in the list with a grey background. These actions may be redone by using Redo.

Warning

If a new action is performed while reviewing previous History actions, the new action will replace and erase all the remaining actions.  It is not possible to recover history items replaced in this way.

History Window Icons

Undo icon Undo

This will undo the last action listed in the History Window.

Redo icon Redo

This will redo the last action that was undone.