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Boosting Undo levels in Excel 2003

Excel 2003 has limited undo level, until you use our tip to increase the number of actions than can be reversed.

Excel 2007 lets you undo 100 actions; with Excel 2003, the limit is 16 but that’s an arbitrary limit set by Microsoft.

If that feels too restrictive, you can up the Excel 2003 limit using a registry tweak.

Remember: Editing the registry can cause problems with your system if you get it wrong. If you’re not comfortable working with the registry and don’t know how to back it up, don’t do it!

Here’s how:

1. Click Start -> Run, type regedit in the box and press Enter to open the Registry Editor.

2. Navigate to the following key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftOffice11.0ExcelOptions

3. In the Options values on the right hand side, right-click and choose New -> DWORD Value.

4. Name the DWORD value UserHistory.

5. Double-click the newly created UserHistory DWORD value to open it, click the Decimal button then type 100 in the Value Data box (or use a lesser value if you prefer.)

6. Click OK and then close the Registry Editor.

Excel Undo setting in Registry image from Boosting Undo levels in Excel 2003 at Office-Watch.com

 

The next time you use Excel 2003, you’ll find your undo capacity greatly increased.

For the adventurous, we have a video tutorial showing how to do this registry edit. It’s hosted on Screencast, which is a beta service, so we can’t guarantee it will work for you. www.screencast.com/t/YH9SSG0X3R

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