How to undo and redo in Blender, and how to increase the number of undos

Undo is the command you will use most in Blender, and it does more than step back once. This guide covers the shortcuts, the Undo History, the Adjust Last Operation panel, how to get more undo steps, what undo cannot bring back, and how to recover work after a crash. Menu names are those of Blender 5.

Undo and redo shortcuts

• Undo: Ctrl+Z, or Edit > Undo.
• Redo: Ctrl+Shift+Z, or Edit > Redo. Redo only brings back what you just undid.
• On a Mac: the manual says Cmd can be used instead of Ctrl, apart from a few shortcuts that clash with macOS. Cmd+Z and Cmd+Shift+Z work.

Both work in every mode: Object Mode, Edit Mode, Sculpt Mode and the others. They belong to the Screen section of the keymap, which applies to the whole window, so they work over most editors, not only the 3D Viewport. These and other everyday keys are listed in the guide to Blender shortcuts.

Undo History: jump back several steps at once

Pressing Ctrl+Z fifteen times works, but Edit > Undo History is faster. It lists the last actions recorded by Blender, with the most recent at the top. A small dot marks where you are now.

1. Open Edit > Undo History.
2. Click the action you want to return to.
3. Check the result. You can click another entry to move backward or forward again.

You can hop around this list as much as you like, as long as you do not make a new change. As soon as you do, the history is cut at that point and the steps after it are gone. The default keymap has no shortcut for Undo History; the legacy Blender 27x keymap uses Ctrl+Alt+Z.

Adjust Last Operation (F9): fix an action instead of undoing it

Often you do not need to undo at all. After many operations, a panel appears at the bottom left of the 3D Viewport with the settings you just used. F9, or Edit > Adjust Last Operation, opens the same settings as a pop-up.

Rotated an object by the wrong angle? Type the right value in the panel. Added a circle? The manual's own example: set Vertices to 3 and you get a perfect equilateral triangle. The same goes for the width and segments of a bevel or the distance of an extrusion, or the options of the shading commands in the guide on how to make edges smooth. The panel only reflects the last operation: once you do something else, it changes.

Related: Shift+R (Edit > Repeat Last) runs your last action again, for example to duplicate and move an object a second time.

How to increase the number of undos in Blender

Blender keeps 32 undo steps by default. To keep more:

1. Open Edit > Preferences.
2. Click the System tab.
3. Find the Memory & Limits section.
4. Raise Undo Steps. The maximum is 256.
5. If Auto-Save Preferences is turned off, click Save Preferences so the change is kept.

The same section holds two related settings:

• Undo Memory Limit: the maximum memory used by undo, in megabytes. The default, 0, means unlimited.
• Global Undo: records actions done outside Edit Mode, such as duplicating objects, changing panel settings or switching modes. Turning it off saves memory but stops the Adjust Last Operation panel from working. The manual advises keeping it on.

More steps cost memory: the Python API describes smaller values as a way to conserve memory, and the manual's crash troubleshooting page lists reducing Undo Steps among the fixes when Blender runs out of memory. On a heavy scene, raise it gradually.

What undo cannot bring back

• Viewport navigation. Orbiting, panning, zooming or switching to a numpad view is not an undo step. In camera view with Lock Camera to View enabled, though, navigating moves the camera itself, and that is recorded.
• Anything from a previous session. When you quit Blender, the complete list of actions is lost, even if you save before quitting.
• Deleting a brush asset. It is removed from its asset library for good, which is why Blender asks for confirmation.
• An unsaved render. Render Result images are temporary: they are lost when you render again, load another file or close Blender, unless you save them.

Recover lost work: Revert, Last Session and Auto Save

When undo is not enough, the File menu has three ways back.

File > Revert

Reopens the current file as it was at its last save. Everything done since that save is discarded, so use it when you want exactly that.

The .blend1 backup

By default, saving does not overwrite the previous save: Blender renames it with a .blend1 extension. Open that file to go back one save. The Save Versions preference, in Save & Load, sets how many of these backups are kept.

File > Recover > Last Session

Opens quit.blend, which Blender writes to the temporary directory when you quit normally. It helps if you closed Blender by accident. The manual warns that files in the temporary directory may be deleted when you reboot or by cleanup tools.

File > Recover > Auto Save

Blender saves a backup of your file every 2 minutes by default. After a crash:

1. Open Blender and choose File > Recover > Auto Save.
2. In the file browser, find the file named like yourfile_autosave.blend. Files are timestamped, and the vertical list view makes the most recent one easy to spot.
3. Open it, then immediately use File > Save As to store it under a normal name.

Know the limits: only one auto save is kept per project, and auto save does not store changes made in Sculpt, Texture Paint or Edit Mode. The interval is set in Edit > Preferences > Save & Load, under Auto Save, Timer (Minutes).

When Ctrl+Z does not work

• You are on a Mac and pressing Ctrl out of habit from another app: try Cmd+Z.
• A different keymap is active. In Edit > Preferences > Keymap, check the preset (Blender, Blender 27x or Industry Compatible) and any custom configuration. Set the filter to Key Binding and type ctrl z to see which commands use that shortcut.
• The mouse is over another editor. Many Blender shortcuts depend on the editor under the mouse cursor. In the Asset Browser, for instance, Ctrl+Z first undoes changes to asset catalogs. Move the pointer back over the 3D Viewport.
• A tool is still running. Inside the Knife tool, Ctrl+Z only removes the last cutting line (or every line of the last drag). Confirm or cancel the tool first.
• The Adjust Last Operation panel is missing. It can be hidden with View > Adjust Last Operation, it does not work when Global Undo is off, and not every editor shows it.