History Snapshots

Here’s an image that I’ve just finished running some Uber Actions on and I want to add an edge effect to finish it off. I’m not sure which edge effect I’m going to like the best so I want to be able to revert the image back to its original state. However, some of the edge effects enlarge the overall canvas size and can’t be undone by deleting the layer created when the edge action runs. That’s where the History panel and History Snapshots come in to play. A History Snapshot allows you to return the image to a previous selected state – canceling out any changes you’ve made.

We’ve added Create History Snapshot at the top of the Uber Edges action set that enables you to create a new history state. You can see the new history snapshot in the History panel called Snapshot 1 after the action has run. Photoshop memorizes the state the image is in when you take the Snapshot and allows you to return to that place canceling out any changes you have made to the image.

Or you can click on the History panel’s menu in the upper right corner and select New Snapshot.

Here’s an example where a Black Jagged edge action has been run and you can see the new layer in the Layers panel.

Turning the layer on or off or even deleting it will not remove the white border that was created when the action ran.

To revert the image click on the snapshot in the History panel and the image is restored to the previous state. You can create a History Snapshot any time you’re working on an image and it’s a good idea to create one if you’re experimenting.