Molecular modeling often involves many small, consecutive actions—selecting atoms, building fragments, calculating energies, adjusting parameters. But what happens when you make an unintentional change several steps back and don’t notice until it’s too late?
With SAMSON, you can breathe easier: a flexible undo/redo system keeps a full history of your modeling session, allowing you to revisit previous steps without having to start over.
Every document has its own history
In SAMSON, each document maintains a separate list of undoable actions. This means your work is compartmentalized—you can undo changes in one document without affecting others.
Accessing the History View
To access the History view, go to Interface > History or use the handy shortcut:
- Windows/Linux: Ctrl+3
- Mac: Cmd+3
This opens a visual timeline of your session, as shown below:
Simply click on a past action to return your document to that state. This is especially useful if you need to compare alternative modeling strategies or just want to reverse a quick mistake.
Keyboard shortcuts to speed things up
Rather than navigating menus, you can use familiar shortcuts:
- Undo:
- Ctrl+Z (Windows/Linux)
- Cmd+Z (Mac)
- Redo:
- Ctrl+Y (Windows/Linux)
- Cmd+Y (Mac)
If you prefer interface menus, these options are also available under the Edit menu.
What you should know: not everything is undoable
While SAMSON’s history is comprehensive, some operations are not undoable. If you perform a non-undoable operation in between undoable ones, returning to an earlier state may not be possible. In those cases, there could be a risk of data loss.
Tip: Frequently save intermediate versions of your document when performing complex tasks. This complements the undo/redo system and gives you another recovery point.
Use cases where history saves the day
Here are just a few examples where undo history can make a real difference:
- You accidentally delete an important molecule group.
- You take a wrong turn halfway through a long minimization setup.
- You want to quickly compare how a structure behaved before and after an operation.
Don’t rely on memory or repeated manual labor—let SAMSON’s history system help you stay efficient and confident in your modeling workflows.
To learn more about SAMSON’s history features, view the official documentation: https://documentation.samson-connect.net/users/latest/history/
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can download the platform at https://www.samson-connect.net