Undo limiting to one undo

[mjsregister]

The Undo control setting is set to ALL. Yet, I can only perform one undo.

AutoCAD ADT 2004.

Thanks.
Matthew

[mjfarrell]

Curious, do you get different results
when you use UNDO than you get when
you use (U) for undo?

[BrenBren]

Check your command line. There may be an comment there, something to the effect of cannot undo, type back to continue.

I can't remember the exact words, but if something like that is there, do what it says, it will fix the problem.

Also, does this always occur, or just in this particular drawing?

[dfuehrer]

Hello all,

Has anyone ever gotten an answer here that actually works for this problem? I have been reading the post relevant to this subject, and see lots of people asking questions, but few, if any answers!

I just got back from AU 2004, where AUGI's forums were touted as being a WONDERFUL resource for this sort of thing.

I too, have the UNDO command the originator of this thread has. Is there anyone out there who can help mjsregister, as well as myself?? it appears to be a global setting, and I have tried all the options at the command prompt after the UNDO command is typed. System variables UNDOCTL and UNDOMARKS are set to "read only". Apparently, I should change the settings at the command line after typing UNDO, this however does no good.

BTW, I am using plain vanilla AutoCAD 2004. Help.

Don

[jhohman]

I have always known there to be a difference between simply typing "U" and typing "undo". The "undo" will allow you to control more things than typing "u". The AutoCAD help file explains the difference all-be-it a bit bleak:

REDO Reverses the effects of previous UNDO or U commands
U Reverses the most recent operation
UNDO Reverses the effect of commands

System Variables
UNDOCTL Stores a bitcode indicating the state of the Auto and Control options of the UNDO command
UNDOMARKS Stores the number of marks placed in the UNDO control stream by the Mark option

I personally have never found much use for the "undo" command. I mean seriously, how many people at any given time know how many commands they need to undo. I personally have too much to pay attention to to allow the extra space in my brain to be used for counting the amount of commands I have used. I simply use the default hot-key for undoing an action in AutoCAD, "u". But hey, perhaps there is some usability to the "undo", I haven't found it though.

[mjfarrell]

I think that these users are attempting to use UNDO as a feature.
Undo is NOT a design tool, it is a way of recovering basically from
bad decisions.
If one want to use the 'features' of undo one must think ahead and
set beginning and end marks so that they can undo to those mileposts.

One would almost be better served in establishing a baseline for the design.
And then perform multiple save-as to design alternatives in these
files built on the base. In the end keeping only the good or approved design
alternative and deleting those other files.
This is the essence of what you are trying to do with undo and not exactly
what it is designed to do. Think of UNDO as an electronic eraser
for getting rid of your bad choice, not as a design tool because it is not that.

[dfuehrer]

OK then,

Aside from the fact that I am not using AutoCAD the way mjfarrell thinks I should be using it, how do I regain the functionality of the UNDO command to go back more than one step? Please don't tell me that AutoCAD can't be configured that way, as I know it is already configured that way, right out of the box.

Still waiting for that answer!

Don

[thomas.stright]

I personally have never found much use for the "undo" command. I mean seriously, how many people at any given time know how many commands they need to undo. I personally have too much to pay attention to to allow the extra space in my brain to be used for counting the amount of commands I have used. I simply use the default hot-key for undoing an action in AutoCAD, "u". But hey, perhaps there is some usability to the "undo", I haven't found it though.

Could a lisp be written to count how many commands have been issued since the last undo???
just a thought....

[mjfarrell]

Don, sorry if you took my suggesting that your method
might be part of the problem. I was merely offering an
alternative for you to consider, but by all means use
AutoCAD any way you want to.

Now as to UNDO.....

With AutoCAD, you can backtrack your recent actions using one of several methods.

Undo a Single Action
The simplest method of backtracking is to use Undo on the Standard toolbar or theU command to undo a single action. Many commands include their own U (undo) option so that you can correct mistakes without leaving the command. When you are creating lines and polylines, for example, enter u to undo the last segment.

Undo Several Actions at Once
Use the Mark option ofUNDO to mark an action as you work. You can then use the Back option of UNDO to undo all actions that occurred after the marked action. Use the Begin and End options of UNDO to undo actions you've defined as a group.

You can also undo several actions at once with the Undo list on the Standard toolbar.

UNDOCTL System Variable Concepts Procedures Reference
(Read-only)
Type: Integer
Not saved
Stores a bitcode indicating the state of the Auto and Control options of theUNDO command. It's the sum of the following values:

0 UNDO is turned off
1 UNDO is turned on
2 Only one command can be undone
4 Auto is turned on
8 A group is currently active


This from my command line:

UNDOCTL = 5 (read only)
Command: setvar
Enter variable name or [?] <UNDOCTL>:

UNDOCTL = 5 (read only)
Command: undo
Enter the number of operations to undo or [Auto/Control/BEgin/End/Mark/Back]
<1>: beg

Command: undoctl

UNDOCTL = 13 (read only)

Notice the Value does change despite being READ ONLY?

UNDOMARKS System Variable Concepts Procedures Reference
(Read-only)
Type: Integer
Not saved
Stores the number of marks placed in theUNDO control stream by the Mark option. The Mark and Back options are not available if a group is currently active.



Correct Mistakes (even Autodesk deems this to be the use of UNDO not just me)
To undo a specific number of actions

At the Command prompt, enter undo.
On the command line, enter the number of actions to undo.
For example, to undo the last ten actions, enter 10. AutoCAD displays the commands or system variable settings that were undone.

Use the Mark option of UNDO to mark an action as you work. You can then use the Back option of UNDO to undo all activities that occurred after the marked action. You also can use the Begin and End options of UNDO to undo actions you've defined as a group.

To redo the last UNDO action, you can use the REDO command.


And UNDO Back will undo from the moment you opened the file.

You need to investigate the use of Mark, Begin and End to have better control
over the function of UNDO if you persist in using in the manner you are want to use.

[jhohman]

Good answer mjferrell