Using Photoshop History Palette

You can use the History palette to revert to a previous state of an image, to delete an image’s states and to create a document from a state or snapshot. You can display History palette by using menu Window » History or click the History palette tab.

You can also set the number of history to be keep in history palette in General Preference , By using menu Edit » Preference » General (for windows) or Photoshop » Preference » General, you can also press Ctrl(Command) + K and enter number in History States text box (default is 20). But please remember more history to keep will consume more memory consume by Photoshop, that will cause photoshop to run slower. If so you can clear history to free the memory any time you want (See history option below in this page)

A: History palette menu B: Sets the source for the history brush C: Thumbnail of a snapshot D: History state E: History state slider F: New Document Button G: Snapshot Button H: Trash Button

History options

You can specify the maximum number of items to include in the History palette and set other options that customize the way you work with the palette.To set history options: Choose History Options from the History palette menu (A) and select following option.

• Automatically Create First Snapshot: To automatically create a snapshot of the initial state of the image when the document is opened.
• Automatically Create New Snapshot: When Saving to generate a snapshot every time you save.
• Allow Non-Linear History: To make changes to a selected state without deleting the states that come after. Normally, when you select a state and change the image, all states that come after the selected one are deleted. This enables the History palette to display a list of the editing steps in the order you made them. By recording states in a nonlinear way, you can select a state, make a change to the image, and delete just that state. The change will be appended at the end of the list.
• Show New Snapshot Dialog: By Default to force Photoshop to prompt you for snapshot names even when using the buttons on the palette.

Action	Do one of the following
To revert to a previous state of an image:	Click the name of the state. Drag the slider at the left of the state up or down to a different state. Choose Step Forward or Step Backward from the palette menu or the Edit menu to move to the next or previous state.
Action	Do one of the following
To delete one or more states of the image:	Will change image to select stage and delete all states the come after it. Click the name of the state, and choose Delete from the History palette menu (A) Drag the state to the Trash button .
Action	Do one of the following
To delete all states of the image:(without changing the image)	Will clear all history state but not changing image. Choose Clear History from the palette menu to delete the list of states from the History palette (This option doesn’t reduce the amount of memory used by Photoshop). Hold down Alt (Option) and choose Clear History from the palette menu (A). (This action can not be Undo) Choose Edit � Purge � Histories to purge the list of states from the History palette for all open documents. You can’t undo this action.
Action	Do one of the following
To create a new document from the selected state or snapshot of the image:	Drag a state or snapshot onto the New Document button (F) . Select a state or snapshot, and click the New Document button (F) . Select a state or snapshot, and choose New Document from the History palette menu (A).

Tip: To save one or more snapshots or image states for use in a later editing session, create a new file for each state you save, and save each in a separate file. When you reopen your original file, plan to open the other saved files also. You can drag each file’s initial snapshot to the original image and thus access the snapshots again from the original image’s History palette.

Note: If you get a message that Photoshop is low on memory, purging states is useful, since the command deletes the states from the Undo buffer and frees up memory. You can’t undo the Clear History command.

Making a snapshot

The Snapshot command lets you make a temporary copy (or snapshot) of any state of the image. The new snapshot is added to the list of snapshots at the top of the History palette. Selecting a snapshot lets you work from that version of the image. Snapshots are similar to the states listed in the History palette, but they offer additional advantages:

• You can name a snapshot to make it easy to identify.
• Snapshots can be stored for an entire work session.
• You can compare effects easily. For example, you can take a snapshot before and after applying a filter. Then select the first snapshot, and try the same filter with different settings. Switch between the snapshots to find the settings you like best.
• With snapshots, you can recover your work easily. When you experiment with a complex technique or apply an action, take a snapshot first. If you’re not satisfied with the results, you can select the snapshot to undo all the steps.

Important: Snapshots are not saved with the image–closing an image deletes its snapshots. Also, unless you select the Allow Non-Linear History option, selecting a snapshot and changing the image deletes all of the states currently listed in the History palette.

To create a snapshot: Select a state and click the New Snapshot button on the History palette, or to set options when creating a snapshot, choose New Snapshot from the History palette menu, or Alt (Option) + click the New Snapshot button. If you use Alt(option) + Click you can have option to select the snapshot contents.

Snapshot Content Option:

• Full Document: to make a snapshot of all layers in the image at that state
• Merged Layers: to make a snapshot that merges all layers in the image at that state
• Current Layer: to make a snapshot of only the currently selected layer at that state

To select a snapshot: Click the name of the snapshot or drag the slider at the left of the snapshot up or down to a different snapshot.
To rename a snapshot: Double-click the snapshot and enter a name.
To delete a snapshot: Select the snapshot, and choose Delete from the palette menu. Or select the snapshot, and click the Trash button (H) . Or drag the snapshot to the Trash button (H) .

History Log

If you need to keep careful track of what’s been done to a file in Photoshop, either for your own records, client records, or legal purposes, the Edit History Log keeps a textual history of what has been done to an image. You can view the Edit History Log metadata using the File Browser or the File Info dialog box.

You can choose to export the text either in an external log file, or you can store the information in the metadata of edited files. Logging many editing operations into a file’s metadata can increase file size and slow the opening and saving of the file.

If you need to be able to prove that the log file hasn’t been tampered with, keep the edit log in the file’s metadata, and then use Adobe Acrobat to digitally sign the log file.

History Log options:

You can set History Log option in Photoshop General preference. By using menu Edit » Preferences » General (for Windows) or Photoshop » Preferences » General (for Mac OS). Click History Log check box to turn on history log and you can select the following option.

• Save Log Items To:
  • Metadata: To store entries in the metadata of each image.
  • Text File: To export the text into an external file. You’ll be prompted to name the log file and choose the location on your computer where you want to store the file.
  • Both: To store metadata in the file, and create a text file.
• Edit Log items:
  • Sessions: To include entries for each time Photoshop is launched or exited, and each time files are opened and closed (each image’s file name is included).
  • Concise: To include the text that appears in the history palette in addition to the Sessions information.
  • Detailed: To include the text that appears in the actions palette in addition to the Concise information. Choose Detailed if you need to keep a complete history of what has been done to files.
  • None: To turn off the log.

You can choose the location of the History Log text file by, with in general preference, click the Choose button. And choose the location where you want to save the log, and then click OK.

You can view History Log in Metadata by using File Info, that locate at File menu (File » File Info or Ctrl + Shift + I). This will bring up File Info dialog and select History from column on the left. Or if you save it as text file you can browse to its location and open it with any text editor application such as Notepad or Textedit. Below is an example of History Log that show in File info dialog (click to see full image)

Related Articles:

• Reading Photoshop Info Palette:
• HSB Color Modal and Color Wheel:
• Photoshop: Merge Layer, Merge Visible and Flatten Image Command:
• Using Photoshop Hue/Saturation command:
• Using Photoshop Free Transform Command:
• Photoshop Path, Shape layer and Fill pixel:

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