Every molecular modeler has experienced this: You’re deep into designing a complex molecular system, carefully adjusting structures, and then… suddenly, a single unintended action derails your progress. Fear not—SAMSON’s History view has you covered! Let’s explore how leveraging the undo and redo features in SAMSON can save your projects and enhance your productivity.
Why Action History Matters
In molecular modeling, the process of tweaking, editing, and transforming structures is rarely linear. Mistakes happen, or sometimes you need to revisit a previous state to analyze your work. This is where the History view in SAMSON shines. It provides a sequential record of interactions with your document, allowing you to navigate through different document states effortlessly. This capability is particularly valuable when building molecules, editing structures, or evaluating transformations.
Opening the History View
Accessing the History view in SAMSON is straightforward. Here’s how you can do it:
- Go to Interface > History in the menu.
- Use the shortcut: Ctrl + 3 on Windows/Linux or Cmd + 3 on Mac.
Once open, the History view becomes your control center for tracking and managing the actions performed on your document.
Undo and Redo, Simplified
SAMSON allows you to undo and redo actions with ease:
- To Undo: Use Ctrl + Z on Windows/Linux or Cmd + Z on Mac.
- To Redo: Use Ctrl + Y on Windows/Linux or Cmd + Y on Mac.
These shortcuts are indispensable when you need to quickly backtrack or reinstate an action. For more precision, you can click directly on specific actions in the History view to navigate through the document’s states.
Things to Keep in Mind
While SAMSON’s undo and redo functionality is powerful, there are cases where certain operations cannot be reverted. For example, if you perform an action that is not undoable in between other reversible actions, it could disrupt the action history. This may result in lost data, so it’s important to plan critical edits accordingly.
Note
Always save your progress when working with significant changes to avoid potential data loss.
The Benefits of Action History
The History view provides more than just error correction. It gives modelers the confidence to experiment and iterate freely. This can be especially impactful when building or manipulating complex molecular systems. You can focus on the creativity of molecular design, knowing that every step is reversible.
Learn More
To dive deeper into SAMSON’s History features, visit the official documentation page: History: Undo and Redo. It’s your detailed guide to mastering document states and creating effective workflows.
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can download SAMSON at https://www.samson-connect.net.