If You Accidentally Delete Content, The Reverse Button and Other Content Retrieval Tips

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The 'Reverse Button' Ctrl + Z

This question has come up a number of times today, and I realize there is one trick that has 'saved my life' a number of times over the years that people new to computers just may not have heard of yet - it's the 'reverse button', ctrl + z

So you just hold those two keys down together briefly and it erases your last action. Try it now on a word and see it undo what you wrote.

**The best bit is if you accidentally highlighted your text and press any key and the whole thing disappears - you can reverse that last action too :)

Sometimes you may have hit more than one key so need to press ctrl + z a number of times - however - don't go too trigger happy with it because if you go back beyond the number of reverses you need, then guess what - there is no forward again! :D

Other Tips on Retrieving Accidentally Deleted Content

  • SiteContent: Another safety net is to use SiteContent for writing, it stores revisions and you can click on one of them, it also saves really fast which is good but still try to get into the habit of saving what you write frequently, just click either the 'save' button or the keyboard shortcut ctrl + s
  • Wordpress: Try to go back to an autosaved version of what you were working on, that way you only lose the last 10 minutes or so, less if you habitually press ctrl+ s, so look at the bottom of your page and see if there are any 'revisions' there just in case you can save something. [This is slightly different than deleting a post and retrieving it from the trash can, that is another possibility for retrieval if was sent there]
  • Word/Email/Other Places: Same principles apply, either reverse or go to an autosaved version.

Preventative Measures

  1. Hit 'save' frequently while writing, either click the save button or use the keyboard shortcut ctrl+s, which means holding those two keys down briefly at the same time
  2. Use something like SiteContent that saves your stuff fast and holds multiple revisions [previous versions prior to your last save]

I'd be lost if I did not know how to retrieve accidentally deleted content, sometimes it is even your final article, after all your hard work - but I've got it back many many times. Just take a bit of practice on some dummy content so you will feel more relaxed if you are in the situation of accidentally deleted content or wanting to undo something you just did.

Good luck!

Mary

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Recent Comments

67

Thank you I plan to make more content to my website and I want to save it

Yes, keep all that hard work nice and safe and easy to retrieve ;)

will have to keep this in mind Thanks

I've seen some great T-shirts with it printed on :D

This works well on sites but it is not so WA editor friendly for me though!

ctrl + z is working in SiteContent for me, did you encounter a problem there?

I agree with you the control +z button is the greatest lifesaver. Not just in WordPress but in all actions on your computer. It works in emails, photo editing software the works. so yes, great post for those that don't know about it.

Even so, there are situations where you do something silly like hit the back button on your browser, that is all your work is gone. Or writing in word or a text editor and you want to minimise the window and you close it, even when the popup asks you if you want to save it, for some otherworldly reason, you say no and close it.

Sound crazy, well this happens to me especially when I get interrupted while doing the writing and have to flip to something else to help with something else.

All that said to say, I found another solution. Google Docs. I do all my writing there because it saves as you type. You never lose your work even if the power had to go off. The most I've ever lost on docs is a sentence. I write there, then copy and paste to where ever I'm posting.

SiteContent has that same sort of 'saving to the cloud' aspect...I was using Google docs for a while but the bells and whistles on sc won me over :) But it's a good reminder as another option.

I think it's ctrl + mind for the other 'something silly' activities you described :D

Does that work on a Mac? I haven't had the problem yet but it would be good to know if it does.

try command z, and let us know if that works [I'm not on a mac]

Thank you

Great tips, Mary! I like the red car picture! :-)

Jim

LOL, really made me laugh too! :D

Thanks for sharing, Mary.

Can really be a saver. Thanks, Mary.

For sure, can't live without reverse :)

:))

thank you for sharing, good tips

I was sorry to see some peeps lost content today and didn't know these, I'd have been lost without 'reverse' over the years!

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