Undo/Redo shows list of commands

[somenick]

Sometimes I want to back track a few steps but don't remember exactly where to stop undo'ing. MS office 2007 does that nicely.

A useful feature, especially for newbs like myself.

[Edgar]

Look at the menu item View > History... you may pick how back to undo. If this is what you are wanting, could Audacity's menu entry been better named for you to discover the tool on your own? If so do you have any suggestions?

[somenick]

Yes, that's what I'm looking for. I expected to find it with the Undo button, in a drop down-menu like this::

Mouse-over 4th history action.





Examples stolen from MS-Word 2007.

[Edgar]

Yes, that's what I'm looking for. I expected to find it with the Undo button, in a drop down-menu

I like the idea of having it available in the Edit menu and would leave it in the View menu as well. I might change the wording of the Edit menu item so users are aware that they might employ the History dialog to undo history--I wonder how that should be worded?

[steve]

It seems reasonable to me to keep the "History" in the "View" menu. This seems to be the conventional location for it.
However, I think it would be a good idea to rename it "Undo History" rather than just "History".

[Edgar]

I think of it as an editing tool/dialog--with it you may change the audio data. Other than possibly Karaoke (which I have never even chosen from the menu) no other View menu item allows one to change the audio data.

I doubt seriously that I could convince the Developers to move it! There is a tiny chance it could have its name changed.

[steve]

I like the idea of having it available in the Edit menu and would leave it in the View menu as well

I can see the argument for having the Undo History in the Edit menu, and many programs do that, though some other programs use the View menu.
I don't like the idea of duplicate menu items (adds clutter), so I think it should be in either the View menu or the Edit menu, but wherever it is I think it would be clearer for it to be called "Undo History" rather than just "History".

I've posted to the Audacity QA list to see if there are other opinions regarding this.

[Gale Andrews]

I would guess one reason for not calling it "Undo History" might be that "Undo" could also be a verb (which it is in "Show Clipping" in the same menu). I think some people would still miss it if it was called "Undo History" because they are looking for a word like "Changes" (or they assume it's only a list of "imported files" - which is actually in File > Recent Files).

I think therefore that "Undo Special" in the Edit menu would be the most discoverable. I think we could consider that after 2.0 because we know we want sometime to trim the Edit menu by grouping some of the items together.


Gale

[waxcylinder]

+1 for "History..." staying just as it is

Apart from other considerations raised above - "undo" is not the only reason to go looking at the history trail

WC

[Gale Andrews]

"undo" is not the only reason to go looking at the history trail
WC

True, it can be useful for checking by how much you amplified three effects ago, and how much disk space the ability to undo previous changes is taking up.

But the main purpose is I think to undo multiple steps at once and the window is called "Undo History". If the aim is to make it more discoverable for its main purpose, then it probably should be in the Edit menu I think (after 2.0).


Gale