In molecular modeling, where precise manipulations and iterative design are crucial, accidental changes can break a workflow—or even worse, lead to unnoticed errors in a complex system. If you’ve ever altered a molecular structure and immediately regretted it, SAMSON’s history management tools might be exactly what you need.
Fortunately, SAMSON, the integrative platform for molecular design, comes equipped with a document-based history system that gives you deep control and visibility over your modeling steps. It allows you to Undo and Redo actions, making your modeling process more forgiving and flexible.
This blog post introduces you to the History view in SAMSON, a clever tool to help molecular modelers backtrack, experiment fearlessly, and work more efficiently. If you’ve ever wished for a way to try something without permanently altering your model, this may be what you’re looking for.
Why This Is Useful for Molecular Modelers
Molecular modeling often involves trial and error: atom placements, bond adjustments, conformation tweaks. Making a change only to realize it leads to an unviable conformation or breaks a constraint can be frustrating. Worse, if you’ve made several changes and can’t remember exactly what you did, restoring a previous state can become nearly impossible without proper history tracking.
With SAMSON’s history system, each document maintains its own list of undoable actions. This means you can explore different modeling paths without the fear of losing your progress — and without needing to create multiple copies of your entire structure as backups.
Accessing the History View
To explore or use the undo/redo features:
- Open the History view from the interface via Interface > History.
- Use the keyboard shortcuts:
- Windows/Linux:
Ctrl + 3 - Mac:
Cmd + 3
Undo and Redo Shortcuts
Once the History view is accessible, you can also use standard shortcuts to navigate changes linearly through the Edit menu:
- Undo:
Ctrl + Z(Windows/Linux) orCmd + Z(Mac) - Redo:
Ctrl + Y(Windows/Linux) orCmd + Y(Mac)
The History view displays a list of past actions—you can click on any of these to revert your model to a selected state. This is particularly useful for non-linear workflows where you want to test an alternate path without deleting your progress.
Keep in Mind
Not all operations are undoable. For example, file imports and certain script-based manipulations may bypass the history log. If non-undoable operations are performed between undoable ones, restoring earlier states might not be possible. It’s generally a good practice to save regularly when trying out third-party extensions or scripted tools.
In cases where you make a large number of experimental changes, the History view becomes a visual breadcrumb trail of your design decisions, which can help you identify patterns, common errors, or effective workflows.
Learn More
To dive deeper into SAMSON’s history and undo features, visit the official documentation page: https://documentation.samson-connect.net/users/latest/history/.
Note: SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can download SAMSON at https://www.samson-connect.net.