As molecular modelers, we all know the frustration of making an irreversible mistake in the middle of a complex modeling session. You’re halfway through building a structure or simulating an interaction, and suddenly, one misclick sends your project spiraling into unexpected territory. If you’ve ever wished you had a time machine for your molecular design work, learning how to effectively use Undo and Redo in SAMSON may be just the solution you need 🧬.
Luckily, SAMSON comes equipped with a robust History view that gives you fine-grained control over your modelling actions. This feature helps you track and even rewind actions, so you can experiment freely without the constant fear of breaking your model.
Each Document Has Its Own History
One of SAMSON’s strengths is that each document maintains its own history of actions. This means you can trace back the steps you’ve taken specifically within that working context. No more wondering which Undo action affects which file—it’s all compartmentalized for clarity and control.
How to Access the History View
You can access the full history of operations via:
- Interface > History, or
Ctrl + 3on Windows / Linux orCmd + 3on macOS
This opens a visual timeline of your session, where each modification appears as an individual entry. You can then click on any past action to revert to the state at that point.
Undo and Redo Commands
You can also use the traditional undo/redo shortcuts found under the Edit menu:
- Undo:
Ctrl + ZorCmd + Z - Redo:
Ctrl + YorCmd + Y
Important Caveats
While the history feature is powerful, not all actions in SAMSON are undoable. For instance, if you mix undoable and non-undoable operations, the history integrity could be affected, making it impossible for SAMSON to properly roll back your session. This could result in data loss.
Tip: Consider creating a duplicate of your document before trying operations that you’re not sure about. That way, you’ll always have a clean version to fall back on.
Why This Matters
Modeling molecules is exploratory by nature—you’re constantly trying new strategies, changing parameters, and testing hypotheses. The ability to safely go back and forth between states without losing progress is essential for scientific creativity. It reduces stress, improves reproducibility, and accelerates learning.
Moreover, if you’re working on a shared document or presenting your workflow to colleagues, the History view can serve as a step-by-step log of how you arrived at your current results. This makes collaboration and learning more transparent.
If you want to dig deeper into the History view in SAMSON and learn about best practices for using it effectively, visit the original documentation page at https://documentation.samson-connect.net/users/latest/history/.
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. You can download SAMSON at https://www.samson-connect.net.