How to Undo in Lightroom (Easy and Fast)

Updated:
by David Em

Portraits Refined may earn a commission on purchases made from links on this page. For more information, read Affiliate Disclosure.

Here are 3 ways to undo in Lightroom. For a Mac, press Command-Z. For a PC, press Control-Z. You can also click edit in the menu section, then press “undo”.

Person editing photo on laptop.

How to undo in Lightroom

Producing well-edited images takes time and many steps. There are times where you’ll want to undo a step instead of starting from scratch.

Related11 ways to take better indoor natural light photos

Here’s how you can fix those small errors or go back if you change your mind.

Mac: Command + Z

PC: Ctrl + Z

Manually: Click “edit” in the menu section then click “Undo”.

Note: If you want to move forward, press Command + Shift + Z (Ctrl + Y for PC).

Related article: What are Lightroom presets?

The history panel

Lightroom tracks every adjustment that you make. You can see a running list of all the adjustments you’ve made in the history panel.

Related: 10 best apps to fix blurry photos

Screenshot of Adobe Lightroom with text and an arrow pointing at the History tab.

How to Find the History Panel:

  1. Go to the left sidebar
  2. Find “history”
  3. Click on “history”

It’ll show you everything beginning with the upload of the image. You can also click on each adjustment in the history panel and it’ll show you the effect of that specific adjustment.

Related: How to clean your camera lens

How to start over

Screenshot of Adobe Lightroom with text and an arrow pointing at the reset button.

When you’re editing, there’ll be times where you don’t feel like the edits look good or maybe you’re not happy with them.

If you want to start over, hit the “Reset” button on the bottom right.

In the history panel, you can also see where you reset the settings. This can help you with consistency throughout your edits.

Related: 35mm vs. 50mm: Which prime lens is better?

Copy and paste edits

Another way to help with consistency is to copy and paste the exact edits.

How to copy and paste edits:

Mac: Command + C to copy then Command + V to paste

PC: Ctrl + C to copy then Ctrl + V to paste

Manually: Click “Edit” in the menu section then click “Copy”. Find the image you want to edit and click “Edit” and “Paste”.

You can also paste an edit to multiple images by selecting multiple images.

Conclusion

By learning how to easily undo in Lightroom, you won’t need to start over when you want to correct your last edit. You’ll save time and make your workflow more efficient.

More resources:

Featured photo by Unsplash.

About David Em

David Em.

David Em is the founder of Portraits Refined. He’s a published portrait photographer dedicated to helping photographers develop skills, capture incredible photos, and build successful businesses.

About Portraits Refined

Portraits Refined (PR) is a media company that publishes the latest expert-backed portrait photography tips, in-depth camera gear reviews, and advice to grow your photography business. Learn more about Portraits Refined