A focused answer to a common DaVinci Resolve question: how to undo an action, restore an undone step, use history and avoid relying on Undo as a substitute for project backups.
Ctrl+Z on Windows and Cmd+Z on macOS
The standard Undo command is Ctrl+Z on Windows and Cmd+Z on macOS. It is one of the most important shortcuts while learning ripple edits, trimming and structural timeline changes.
- Windows: Ctrl+Z.
- macOS: Cmd+Z.
- Menu: Edit → Undo.
Redo restores an undone action
Use Edit → Redo when you undo one step too far. Verify the actual keystroke in Keyboard Customization because custom and imported presets can change assignments.
History is safer than pressing Undo repeatedly
Resolve can expose the sequence of actions available for undo and redo. When you are unsure how far back to go, history is more controlled than blindly pressing Undo many times.
Undo behavior can vary by page
Resolve combines Edit, Fusion, Color and Fairlight, and some pages maintain context-specific histories. Color work, for example, has clip-oriented undo/redo behavior.
If Ctrl+Z does not work
- Confirm DaVinci Resolve has keyboard focus.
- Open Edit and check whether Undo is available.
- Search for Undo in Keyboard Customization.
- Check whether a third-party preset changed the mapping.
- Temporarily switch to the default DaVinci Resolve preset for comparison.
Key takeaway
Ctrl/Cmd+Z is the fastest one-step recovery tool, while History and Project Backups are better for controlled recovery from larger changes.