How to modify the number of undo levels (211922)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Office Excel 2003
  • Microsoft Excel 2002
  • Microsoft Excel 2000
This article was previously published under Q211922
For a Microsoft Excel 97 version of this article, see 162944.

Important This article contains information about how to modify the registry. Make sure to back up the registry before you modify it. Make sure that you know how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up, restore, and modify the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows registry

SUMMARY

By default, Microsoft Excel keeps track of 16 undo levels, which provide an undo history for most actions you perform in Microsoft Excel. You can change the number of undo levels by adding an entry in the Microsoft Windows registry. Microsoft recommends that you do not increase the number of undo levels beyond 100.

Note The more you increase the number of undo levels the more random access memory (RAM) Microsoft Excel requires to store the undo history. This affects the performance of Microsoft Excel.

MORE INFORMATION

By default, Microsoft Excel allocates RAM for 16 undo levels. The registry setting described in this article allows you to change the default to a value you specify. If the undo history is set to zero, no memory is allocated for undoing actions. The higher the undo history value the more memory Microsoft Excel allocates for the history. This directly affects the performance of your computer when you run Microsoft Excel. Note When you run a Visual Basic for Applications macro, Microsoft Excel allocates no memory for undoing actions. This feature is disabled for optimization and performance when you run a macro. To use the Registry Editor to change the number of undo levels under Microsoft Windows 95, Windows 98, and Microsoft Windows NT 4.0, use the following steps:

Warning Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly by using Registry Editor or by using another method. These problems might require that you reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that these problems can be solved. Modify the registry at your own risk.
  1. Close any programs that are running.
  2. On the Start menu, click Run, type regedit in the Open box, and click OK.
  3. In Registry Editor, expand one of the following registry keys, as appropriate for the version of Excel that you are running:

    Excel 2000

    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Excel\Options

    Excel 2002

    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Excel\Options

    Excel 2003

    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Excel\Options

  4. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD Value. Select New Value #1, type UndoHistory, and then press ENTER.
  5. On the Edit menu, click Modify.
  6. In the Edit DWORD Value dialog box, click Decimal under Base. Type a value between 0 and 100 in the Value box, click OK, and then exit Registry Editor.
  7. Start Excel. Excel stores an undo history for the number of actions that you specified in step 6.

REFERENCES

For more information about how to undo an action, click Microsoft Excel Help on the Help menu, type undo in the Office Assistant or the Answer Wizard, and then click Search to view the topic. Then, click to select the Undo mistakes topic.
Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:10/5/2006
Keywords:kbhowto kbui KB211922
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