How to Undo in Microsoft Word

Making mistakes when typing or editing a Word document is inevitable. Fortunately, Word provides robust undo and redo functionality to easily fix errors and reverse unwanted formatting changes. This guide will teach you everything you need to know about undoing and redoing actions in Word on Windows and Mac.

Understanding Undo and Redo

The undo feature allows you to reverse the last action performed in Word. For example, if you accidentally delete a paragraph, you can click the Undo button to bring it back. Undo reverses your last action, whatever that was – typing text, applying formatting, deleting content, etc.

Redo is the opposite of undo. If you undo an action but later decide you wanted to keep that change after all, you can click Redo to reapply the undone action. The redo command brings back the last change you undid.

So in summary:

Undo reverses the last action you performed
Redo reapplies the last action that was undone

This lets you easily fix mistakes by undoing them, or bring back changes you undid but now want to keep.

Undoing and Redoing with Keyboard Shortcuts

The fastest way to undo and redo actions is with keyboard shortcuts:

Undo: Ctrl + Z (Windows), ⌘ + Z (Mac)

Redo: Ctrl + Y (Windows), ⌘ + Shift + Z (Mac)

So for example, if you accidentally delete a sentence, simply press Ctrl/⌘ + Z to undo the deletion and get the sentence back.

I highly recommend memorizing these shortcuts if you do a lot of typing and editing in Word. They will save you tons of time compared to clicking the Undo and Redo buttons in the toolbar.

Using the Undo and Redo Buttons

If you prefer clicking buttons over keyboard shortcuts, Word provides Undo and Redo buttons in the Quick Access toolbar by default.

In Windows, the toolbar is located in the top left. On Mac, it’s on the top right.

To undo an action, click the Undo button (it has a curved arrow icon).

To redo an undone action, click the Redo button right next to it. This button may be labeled Repeat depending on your version of Word.

Undo and Redo buttons in Word toolbar

These buttons function the same as the keyboard shortcuts. Click Undo to reverse actions and Redo to reapply undone changes.

Customizing the Number of Undos

By default, Word’s undo history remembers the last 20 actions you can reverse. However, you can customize this setting:

Click the File tab
Select Options

Click Advanced
Under Editing options, change the Number of undos to the desired value

Setting a higher number allows you to undo more actions. I recommend at least 50. The maximum is 300. Just know that allowing more undos takes up more system memory.

Undoing Multiple Actions at Once

Word’s undo functionality reverses one action at a time. But a little-known trick lets you undo multiple changes in one click:

Click and hold the Undo button in the Quick Access toolbar
Drag down to see a list of your recent actions

Select an action to undo everything up to that point

For example, if you made changes over 10 paragraphs, you could undo all changes at once by selecting the first action in the list instead of hitting Undo 10 times.

Understanding the Undo Limit

Word can’t undo editing changes made indefinitely. The undo history gets cleared in certain situations:

Closing and reopening a document
Saving and then reopening a document
Clicking the Reset button in the Undo menu

Undoing all the way back to the last time the document was opened or saved
When the undo history reaches the maximum number of actions (default is 20)

So if you make changes to a document before doing any of the above, you cannot undo those changes later. This is why it’s a good idea to save different versions of a document while editing in case you need to revert back to an older draft.