Business Edition Features: Multiple Undo

I get lots of questions about the features in the different levels of the Silhouette Studio software. I’m going to begin a series of posts where I show you the features of different levels of the software so you can see them in action. (If you need to get an overview of the software levels, see the linked post above). Today’s topic is a Business Edition feature called Multiple Undo.

Note: This post contains affiliate links. That means if you click the link and purchase something, I may receive a small commission. You pay the same price. This helps me to be able to keep my business going and provide more tutorials.

Business Edition Overview

Business Edition was created for people who run a business using their Silhouette machines (or even just the software). It doesn’t add any designing features other than font creator, but focuses on time-saving features. Business Edition is the highest level of the software and has all the features of lower versions plus–

• ability to import Adobe Illustrator, CorelDraw and Encapsulate Post Script files directly.
• ability to run several machines simultaneously from the Send area.
• multiple undo/redo.
• automated weed lines.
• matrix copy — cutting multiple copies of the same design on the same page.*
• automated nesting — to make the best use of the material.*
• tiling — to break apart a large design into chunks that can be cut with your machine.*
• media layout — to see at the same time both the design area and the way pieces will be laid out on your material using the automated weed lines, matrix copy, advanced nesting, tiling and advanced weed lines options. There’s an option to add a border to the left, right, top or bottom of the page.*
• barcodes for print and cut — to print multiple copies of a file and then be able to cut them later without reopening the file.
• ability to save files in SVG**, PDF**, PNG or JPG format.
• font creator — from scanned image or created directly in the software.
• edition toggle — to view in any of the levels of the software (useful for teaching).

*does not alter the original file
**cannot include any portion of a design purchased from the Silhouette Design Store

What is Multiple Undo/Redo?

The Undo button is my favorite one in the software (I always wish I had one for real life). With that, you can go backward and undo any action you took. If you accidentally go to far, then you can hit Redo to go forward again. You can do all this because the software is holding in its temporary memory every action you have performed. It holds a different set of actions for each file that’s open. (That’s why it’s a good idea to not have too many files open at once if your computer runs slowly).  Once you close the file or exit Silhouette Studio, the software is no longer remembering every operation and so you can no longer undo them.

Multiple Undo/Redo is a way to speed up the process. Instead of hitting the Undo or Redo button multiple times, you can select any number of them at a time. You then just wait while the software goes through the process of undoing or redoing each step.

How to use Multiple Undo and Redo

1. Look for the Multiple Undo icon in the Quick Access Toolbar.
   
2. Click the icon to open the panel.
   
3. The panel shows a list of all the actions you’ve taken. The first one is at the bottom of the list; the most recent is at the top. Click on any row to undo all actions up to that point. For example, if I click on row 8, the software will undo steps 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9 and 8. Instead of clicking 9 times, I only had to click once. You’ll see each step happen quickly and the rows gray out as it goes. Notice how the fill colors and sizes of my shapes are now different.
   
4. You can still see in the list all the actions, even if you undid them. That’s so that you use Redo if you went too far or change your mind. Let’s say I didn’t mean to undo steps 8-12. I can click on step 12 to redo all of those.
   
   As long as I don’t do anything else on my design area, I can keep undoing and redoing as much as I’d like.

Tidbits to know

• You cannot select an action in the middle of the list to undo or redo. In other words, I can’t undo step 12 without also undoing steps 16-13.
• You quickly reach the point where there are too many actions to be displayed at once in the panel. Hover over the steps and use the scroll wheel on your mouse to go up and down in the list.
• If you undo or redo several actions, then do something new on your design area, you’ve broken the chain and don’t have the option to undo and redo all the actions. For example, I —
  • create a rectangle, circle and rounded rectangle — steps 1, 2 and 3.
  • fill them with 3 separate colors — steps 4, 5 and 6.
  • click row 4 in the Multiple Undo panel return them all to unfilled.
  • fill the rounded rectangle with a new color.

Now I can’t undo/redo to the fills of the previous colors (steps 4-6) because I broke the chain of events. The steps are no longer there.

• The descriptions of the actions aren’t very easy to interpret. For example, in the version I’m using, when you click on a design the description actually says Move Rectangle or even Move 2 Shapes. I didn’t move anything — just selected. If you click off the design onto a blank area, it just reads Edit. The description may even change from something like Edit fill of Rectangle to Edit Properties of Rectangle. You just have to play with it.
• If you keep clicking in the panel or click the Undo icon past the number of available actions, then it keeps adding Edit or Editing to the bottom of the list even though nothing is happening.