How can I keep undo history after saving on Visual Studio Code

Question

I'm using latest version of VS code (1.9.0).

After I undo (ctrl+z) something, and save the file (ctrl+s), then I cannot redo anymore (ctrl+y).

I would like to go back and forth during the editor is running same as Sublime or other editor. Can anyone solve this problem? Thank you.

This was the issue with extensions. Find a extention which is not updated following latest version of VS code and remove it. — Eliot, Jun 10 '17 at 16:45
I'm having the same problem although I disabled all extensions. Once I save, I cannot redo anything. I'm using 1.19.1. Anyone else knows what to do? — floribon, Jan 03 '18 at 21:56
Same problem. Disabling extensions doesn't fix it. Problem seems to be an issue if I close the file I'm working on, then go back to it. All undo/redo history is lost. — slashwhatever, Mar 29 '18 at 08:35
Wonder if there's a way to keep an auxiliary set of undo/redo history so that we don't get hoodwinked by a stray save-hook extension (format-on-save) when we temporarily make changes. — mittens pair, Jul 12 '18 at 07:20
@slashwhatever Undo/redo is *not working* on a reopened file. See my [updated answer](https://stackoverflow.com/a/42581029/1168315). — Dominik, Dec 31 '18 at 11:24

Mark · Answer 1 · 2020-05-04T16:19:00.103

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For people getting to this question that want to disable the persistence of the undo stack after a file is closed, this too appears to be coming to v1.45.

See https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/issues/94778 and https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/pull/96317 and v1.45 Release Notes:

"files.restoreUndoStack": false

Set to false to disable undo stack items after a file is closed. the default is true.

edited May 04 '20 at 16:19

answered Apr 30 '20 at 16:11

Mark

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thank you, you save my life. mhuah <3 – winnie damayo Feb 14 '22 at 12:10
This was very helpful! Is there any such setting that will also drop the undo stack upon SAVING a file? – gcr May 28 '22 at 01:10
@gcr I don't think there is a setting that will clear an undo stack for a file upon saving it. – Mark May 31 '22 at 17:55

Murtaza JAFARI · Answer 2 · 2020-02-24T13:07:41.803

12

Hope this will work.

shift + command + z

It will redo what you expected in Sublime Text (command + y )

edited Feb 24 '20 at 13:07

answered Jan 17 '20 at 03:23

Murtaza JAFARI

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That is great which helped – Murtaza JAFARI Feb 24 '20 at 13:07
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this is the anwer I was looking for. – simpson Aug 11 '21 at 12:13
You can also remap the keys to `command + y` in the keyboard shortcuts – Partha Mandal Apr 04 '22 at 14:05

score 7 · Answer 3 · answered May 20 '22 at 22:00

7

At the bottom left corner of the vscode you have a "timeline", you can undo, and see all saved logs.

answered May 20 '22 at 22:00

Kay

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Your answer could be improved with additional supporting information. Please [edit] to add further details, such as citations or documentation, so that others can confirm that your answer is correct. You can find more information on how to write good answers [in the help center](/help/how-to-answer). – Community May 23 '22 at 01:50

Dominik · Answer 4 · 2018-12-31T12:09:42.350

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Undo/redo on

a kept open file

That normally should work. If not, it could be an issue with one of your installed extensions. Try to start Visual Studio Code on a terminal/command line with
```
code --disable-extensions
```
Credits: Issue comment from Benjamin Pasero
a reopened file

It's an unsolved bug (issue #7169). Vote & give feedback in this Github issue to help solving it. The VSCode developers track Github reactions to prioritize the work.
a saved as file

Also an unsolved bug (issue #17977).

edited Dec 31 '18 at 12:09

answered Mar 03 '17 at 14:08

Dominik

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Update: It's *not working* on a reopened file, yet. Unfortunately. – Dominik Dec 31 '18 at 11:23
Broken on a saved cpp file. Edit: Well now it is. Weird. – Laurie Stearn Jan 21 '19 at 09:17

Bjørnar Hvidsten · Answer 5 · 2022-03-08T16:50:07.477

In my case it was the Format On Save in settings that caused the undo/redo buffer to be flushed when saving files in VSC.

To get around this you can set Format On Save Mode to

modifications (requires source control like git)

or

modificationsIfAvailable (this also requires source control to help with this issue else VSC will format the entire file and flush the undo/redo buffer)

Voila!!! I had both Format On Save enabled and a redo buffer that was working after saving the file. Truly wonderful!

If this doesn´t help make sure to try to disable all extensions to see if one of them might be causing the buffer flushing.

VonC · Answer 6 · 2020-04-20T08:45:03.053

The problem is confirmed in microsoft/vscode issue 10932 "Undo stack lost" (and linked to the aforementioned issue 7169, as part of the undo/redo issues)

We loose the undo stack very easily when leaving a dirty file in a tab (not visible) and then saving the dirty file:

open some tabs and make them dirty

wait for a few seconds

press "Save All"

go to those tabs that where not visible and try to undo
=> you cannot undo

For an opened file, it was solved in VSCode 1.5.0 (Sept. 2016) with commit b872e3d

But for a reopened file, VSCode 1.44 (March 2020) does address the issue, which is listed in the Iteration Plan for March 2020, and assigned to Alexandru Dima: see release notes

Keep Undo stack when reopening files

VS Code will now keep the Undo/Redo stack of a file when the file is closed. When the file is reopened, if its contents hasn't changed since it was closed, the Undo/Redo stack will be restored.

This is very useful if you limit the number of open editors with the workbench.editor.limit.value setting or you accidentally close a file you are working on.

@Henry I just tested it with the same 1.53.2 (on Windows), and it does work. The release notes mentions "When the file is reopened, if its contents hasn't changed since it was closed, the Undo/Redo stack will be restored." Is it possible your file has changed since it was closed? — VonC, Feb 28 '21 at 17:23

score 1 · Answer 7 · answered Apr 20 '20 at 07:10

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It's now a feature in the latest version :)

https://code.visualstudio.com/updates/v1_44#_keep-undo-stack-when-reopening-files

answered Apr 20 '20 at 07:10

Jacquers

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That [doesn't seem to be persisted outside of workspace memory](https://www.reddit.com/r/vscode/comments/lldrhq/keep_undo_stack_on_workspaceapplication_close/), unlike say Vim's persistent undo. – Tobu Apr 06 '21 at 12:13

How can I keep undo history after saving on Visual Studio Code

7 Answers7

Keep Undo stack when reopening files

Linked