How to lose your work using Undo Copy in Windows • Hacker News Board

Re: How to lose your work using Undo Copy in Windows

#11

Post by o1y32 » Sat, May 13, 2023, 12:29 PM UTC

cka wrote: post #7

A similar annoyance is the fact that excel's undo applies to all open excel files. Make a change in a.xls, make a change in b.xls. if you ctrl-z twice with b.xls focused, it'll undo both of the above changes! This has bitten me more than once. Does anyone actually want this behavior?

I ran into this issue and looked it up. It was an intentional design choice, and kind of makes sense when you realize that Excel sheets can have reference of each other -- they are not necessarily independent. Of course a lot of people probably never do that in their entire lifetime when using Excel and can feel annoying.

Re: How to lose your work using Undo Copy in Windows

#12

Post by konschubert » Sat, May 13, 2023, 12:34 PM UTC

lelandfe wrote: post #6

spuz wrote: post #2

How unfortunate. Windows should disable the Undo option as soon as the copied file is modified.

Can confirm this is how macOS does it. They remove the file from the stack of Undo actions after it's been modified post-copy.

It's the little things that make the big difference.

Re: How to lose your work using Undo Copy in Windows

#13

Post by bakugo » Sat, May 13, 2023, 12:36 PM UTC

I have indeed lost work this way multiple times before. Wish there was some way to outright disable Undo Copy, or at least put it behind a confirmation dialog.

Edit: Actually read the entire page this time and there's indeed a registry edit to disable it, but it disables every other type of undo as well which isn't ideal.

Re: How to lose your work using Undo Copy in Windows

#14

Post by sammyteee » Sat, May 13, 2023, 12:38 PM UTC

Eisenstein wrote: post #8

Did you check the c:\users\user\appdata\local\temp folder? Make sure to enable 'show hidden files'.

Of course, but average end user shouldn't have to go to folder that they are likely unaware even exists..

Re: How to lose your work using Undo Copy in Windows

#15

Post by mihaifm » Sat, May 13, 2023, 12:39 PM UTC

Eisenstein wrote: post #8

Did you check the c:\users\user\appdata\local\temp folder? Make sure to enable 'show hidden files'.

Thanks for giving us hope but it's not there

Re: How to lose your work using Undo Copy in Windows

#16

Post by phkahler » Sat, May 13, 2023, 12:40 PM UTC

"Undo copy" seems like it should not even exist. Delete does the same. Seems like the result of trying to hard to "improve" the UI.

Re: How to lose your work using Undo Copy in Windows

#17

Post by cubefox » Sat, May 13, 2023, 12:42 PM UTC

spuz wrote: post #2

How unfortunate. Windows should disable the Undo option as soon as the copied file is modified.

Exactly, that was my first thought.

Re: How to lose your work using Undo Copy in Windows

#18

Post by jmartrican » Sat, May 13, 2023, 12:43 PM UTC

I remember a video where the author accidentally deleted all the research and work they did for the video. After panicking and calming down, they typed CTL z (or selected undo in File Explorer) and got all their files back.

Re: How to lose your work using Undo Copy in Windows

#19

Post by hgsgm » Sat, May 13, 2023, 12:44 PM UTC

Undo Copy is a fine feature; there was a recent post here about clipboards and managing the cost of large copied objects.

The problem here is that "undo copy" acted as "undo paste", a ridiculous bug.

Re: How to lose your work using Undo Copy in Windows

#20

Post by bloomingeek » Sat, May 13, 2023, 12:44 PM UTC

I treat every file that's important to me the same when I have to edit it, I hit save first, then edit what needs attention. After making any change more then a few minutes of work, hit save. Undo is always the last option.

I am a terribly slow typist, so this is a habit I formed many years ago.