Think of a staircase: undo steps down, redo steps back up.
The big ideaUndo takes back your last step, and redo brings it forward again.
How it works
Undo takes back your last step, and redo brings it forward again.
Think of a staircase, where each thing you do is one stair. Undo steps down one stair, and redo steps back up one.
When something vanishes, calm comes first and the fix follows: lift your hands off the keys.
Undo is a safety net with holes in it. A message that is already sent cannot be pulled back, and a closed program usually forgets its steps.
Hold Control and tap the Z key to undo, on most keyboards. Control is not drawn here.Can undo help?
Example 1: The paragraph vanished
Stop and lift your hands off the keys.
Tap undo once, and the paragraph starts to come back.
Look at the page to see if it is all back.
If it went back too far, tap redo to step up.
Example 2: One undo too many
Kofi tapped undo again and again.
The paragraph got shorter and shorter, because he went down too many stairs.
He tapped redo twice, and the lost words came back.
Example 3: One wrong letter
Backspace rubs out the letter you just typed.
Type the right letter.
Undo is bigger: it takes back a whole step, like a paste.
Backspace sits at the end of the top row.
Example 4: The safety net has holes
A message you already sent cannot be pulled back.
A page on paper is out in the world.
If something goes missing and undo does not fix it, tell a grown-up.
Words to know
undo
Takes back your last step.
redo
Brings forward a step you took back.
backspace
Rubs out the letter you just typed.
staircase
A picture of your steps: undo goes down a stair, redo goes up.
Watch out
Redo does not take a step back. It brings a step forward.
Backspace rubs out one letter at a time, not a whole page.
Undo cannot bring back everything, so do not count on it for a message you sent.
Closing the program to fix one wrong letter is far too big a fix. Use backspace.
Try it
What does undo do?
You tapped undo one time too many. What brings the step back?
One letter is off. Do you use backspace or close the program?
Which keys is undo on most keyboards?
Answers: 1. Takes back your last step · 2. Redo · 3. Backspace · 4. Control and the Z key
Try at homeAt the computer with a grown-up: type three words in a note. Use undo to take them back, one step at a time, then use redo to bring them back. Ask your grown-up to show you the Edit menu, and which keys your computer uses for undo and redo.
For grown-upsHave your child type three words in a note, use undo to take them back one step at a time and redo to bring them back, and then look together at the Edit menu to see which keys your computer uses.
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