Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: Undoing an Edit.

Undoing an Edit

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated August 6, 2022)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365


1

It happens to the best of us. You may delete the wrong value, replace the wrong formula, or enter something incorrectly. In short, you make a mistake. Excel allows you to undo almost any of your editing actions. The easiest way to undo an edit or formatting change is to press Ctrl+Z. Excel very helpfully undoes whatever it was you just did.

Excel also provides an Undo tool at the upper-left of the Excel program window, just above the leftmost tabs of the ribbon. This tool looks like a curved arrow pointing backward—to the left. If you click on the tool, it is the same as pressing Ctrl+Z. If you click on the tool and you hear a "ding," it means there are no actions to undo. If there are more than one actions that can be undone, click on the down-arrow to the right of the Undo tool and you can see the various actions that you can undo.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (12361) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Undoing an Edit.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Finding a Cell Reference

Want to know what the reference address is for a particular cell in a table? Word won't tell you, but you can use a macro ...

Discover More

Determining Sorting Criteria

If you need to know how a range of data is sorted, the task is not as easy as you might at first think. This tip examines ...

Discover More

Using Go To to Jump to a Chart Sheet

Create a chart on its own worksheet, and you can display it by simply clicking the tab at the bottom of the Excel work ...

Discover More

Create Custom Apps with VBA! Discover how to extend the capabilities of Office 365 applications with VBA programming. Written in clear terms and understandable language, the book includes systematic tutorials and contains both intermediate and advanced content for experienced VB developers. Designed to be comprehensive, the book addresses not just one Office application, but the entire Office suite. Check out Mastering VBA for Microsoft Office 365 today!

More ExcelTips (ribbon)

Setting an Upper Threshold for a Cell

Do you want to limit what can be entered into a particular cell in your worksheet? Here are three separate ways you can ...

Discover More

Getting Rid of Non-Printing Characters Intelligently

Is your worksheet, imported from an external source, plagued by non-printing characters that show up like small boxes ...

Discover More

Not Enough Resources to Delete Rows and Columns

Few things are as frustrating as trying to delete rows or columns and having Excel tell you that you can't perform the ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 3 + 7?

2022-08-06 09:49:53

J. Woolley

It is worth noting that most macros destroy the Undo stack and cannot be undone unless specifically programmed to add a procedure to the Undo stack.


This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the ribbon interface (Excel 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the menu interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.