WTF no editing Undo on Android?!

[GalaxyMeh]

Say you accidentally deleted too much text from a note, or an edit field.

On my 2004 Windows mobile PDA phone, I could undo by tapping Ctrl+Z. On a 2006 iPhone, you can undo by shaking the phone. Undo is a a very basic and useful feature.

How the heck do you undo on the Android?

 

[RedMist]

Yeah agreed it would be great.

The same problem on a Palm Pre. I started to delete a person's mobile phone number, realised I was deleting their home number. No way to get it back... Grr

 

[classicpenny]

Exactly -WTF- Is there some underlying problem implicit in the Android code that precludes an undo function?
Is there any reason at ALL that the undo function was left out?
And why in the heck is this omission being IGNORED by almost everyone? Are GalaxyMeh and RedMist and me the only three people in Android land who make mistakes? Yes, undo also got left out of Web OS over in Palm Pre land, and there are a whole lot of frustrated users over there, who apparently DO make mistakes?
What the heck is going on that such a self-evident blunder could happen?

 

[IOWA]

Exactly -WTF- Is there some underlying problem implicit in the Android code that precludes an undo function?
Is there any reason at ALL that the undo function was left out?
And why in the heck is this omission being IGNORED by almost everyone? Are GalaxyMeh and RedMist and me the only three people in Android land who make mistakes? Yes, undo also got left out of Web OS over in Palm Pre land, and there are a whole lot of frustrated users over there, who apparently DO make mistakes?
What the heck is going on that such a self-evident blunder could happen?

Yes. We are all perfect. You will be too, in time. You have been assimilated.

But yeah, I miss undo. And Androids Copy/Paste sucks too.

 

[classicpenny]

It turns out that DataViz DocumentsToGo for Android DOES have undo

 

[lexi16]

"classicpenny It turns out that DataViz DocumentsToGo for Android DOES have undo"
Does undo only work for that DataViz program or does the Undo feature work for all of android os

 

[Dezden]

Is this still not possible? I've caught myself doing "ALT + DEL" accidentally on my G2--which deletes an entire row of text.

 

[sandeep108]

I do not recall symbian or Palm having undo either. But that is no reason for Android not to have it.

 

[bobneaves]

Agreed. I'm on MyTouch4g. Have accidentally deleted text a couple times. Luckily nothing too serious, but a global undo command should definitely be in the phone.

 

[fangorious]

It's due to the application lifecycle and programming guidelines. Application developers need to be conscious of how they handle events and save the original field value before displaying the activity.

 

[hate_crew]

I do not recall symbian or Palm having undo either. But that is no reason for Android not to have it.

Actually I used to have a Palm Tungsten (first e then T/x) and they both had undo -- several layers, in fact, if I remember correctly. The total lack of undo in Android is utterly reprehensible, however; if anyone has any suggestions as to how this can be changed, I'm eager to learn. Thanks, peace out.

 

[AndroidSPCS]

Just don't screw up in the first place...haha

seriously, my Palm Treo had an undo, but I hated how the Treo didn't have a "cancel" when I was editing my data (eg contacts)...totally screwed you couldn't change your mind when you edit a field or contact.

Every platform has its flaws. I consider this pretty trite. It would be nice if they could update it in the future with an "undo" feature.

 

[coos lick]

Sounds like a useful feature. Just checked if anybody had asked Google - looks like they have.

Issue 13329 - android - Undo - Android - An Open Handset Alliance Project - Google Project Hosting

System wide (os) update requested just before Christmas. Suggest you go and add your comments there as well - and hope they listen.

 

[paranoid_android]

Every O/S has its flaws, and I consider this colossal.

WTF is F'in right.

 

[ninja_reject]

I did a market search for keyboards with an undo feature and found very little, but there were some. I suggest emailing the developers for keyboards you use, and and asking them if implementing this feature would be possible.

 

[Mostly Harmless]

Every O/S has its flaws, and I consider this colossal.

WTF is F'in right.

Colossal flaw? Until reading this post I never even thought about it, I don't think it's that big of a deal.

 

[JohnrC]

Colossal flaw? Until reading this post I never even thought about it, I don't think it's that big of a deal.

Colossal flaw AND a big deal. One of the first attractive features of the computer was the ability to Undo. You know... no more white-out.

There are monks who spend countless hours creating beautiful, detailed works of art bordering on perfection, then intentionally add a flaw to remind themselves of the difference between them and divinity. Could this be why we have no Undo in Android; no selecting non-contiguous cells in a Google doc spreadsheets; no fabulous Google toolbar in Chrome? To some of us these are stunningly unreasonable omissions.

That these issues are still outstanding months and years later is a fairly loud statement from developers.

I got frustrated with MS during Vista and Windows Mobile. I just had my iPhone stolen (Apple was a whole different type of frustration) so I thought I'd have a good look at Droid and all that Google has to offer.

I'm reluctant to dig in and make a commitment and find another set of frustrations. So much promise! Yet... well... as the OP put it "WTF".

 

[alostpacket]

Sounds like a useful feature. Just checked if anybody had asked Google - looks like they have.

Issue 13329 - android - Undo - Android - An Open Handset Alliance Project - Google Project Hosting

System wide (os) update requested just before Christmas. Suggest you go and add your comments there as well - and hope they listen.

Star this issue if you guys want this

Looks like the SGS2 has it in some custom apps.

Certainly apps can implement undo themselves, but as of now there is no system wide in Gingerbread at least.

 

[takeshi]

Colossal flaw AND a big deal.

...and subjective. It has never been an issue for me either. If you want it, do as the post above mine says and promote the feature request. Posting here doesn't accomplish anything.

 

[JohnrC]

If you want it, do as the post above mine says and promote the feature request. Posting here doesn't accomplish anything.

I see. I thought it was actually constructive to discuss in forum and learn other people's position as well.

Happy to promote the feature request as suggested.

 

[Slug]

Posting here doesn't accomplish anything.

On the contrary, posting in this topic has (a) demonstrated that it's a fairly big deal to quite a few people, (b) revealed that it's important to enough people that it's been suggested to the OHA as an issue for resolution, and (c) informed us that it can be implemented on a per-app as well as a system-wide basis.

Besides, suggesting that people not post kinda defeats the purpose of AF.

 

[hr0201]

Undo & cancel, PRETTY PLEASE WITH SUGAR ON TOP! Ideally there should be undo for the past several edits.
I'm thinking about going back to Windows Mobile... Even my Palm V had this in 1999 (and graffiti)! I also miss having a stylus.

There should be a disclaimer on the box of Android phones:
WARNING: MAY BE HARMFUL TO YOUR (MENTAL) HEALTH -- NO UNDO OR CANCEL!!!
I wouldn't have bought this Nexus S had I known about this (also no FM, but that's another issue).

Soooo much pain & frustration, lost time (& hair), multiplied by the Android user base worldwide; millions of man hours. Immeasurable stress response, anguish. Psychological damage, psychotic episodes... Grab the wheel, I'm swerving out of controoooool!!!

SUGGESTION for you Android users:
1. I highly recommend the SlideIT keyboard (Swype wasn't available on my Nexus S). I use SlideIT 95% of the time when writing text; it's super fast (watch tutorial video first! Install it from the Marketplace. Hit the ?123 key at bottom left; Settings; scroll down to find video). Well worth the $5 or so (but you can use it free as a trial first).

2. Install the TouchPal keyboard. It has 3 keyboard screens (including T9); just slide keyboard left or right to change. There's also a screen with arrow keys for moving up, down, left, and right!!! A real Del key (not just backspace)! Home, End, Page Up, Page Down, Copy, Cut, Paste... Access the special keyboard with the key at top of the keyboard in the middle (it looks like a notepad with pen) . Note: I couldn't get Select to work, but that's okay as I can do that with my thumb (most of the time!).
NOTE: Another plus for TouchPal is great Chinese input.

 

[boogie38]

Good suggestion. Love my new android phone but not the lack of the trusty undo function for klutzes like me. How do we post suggestion to google? Could someone help a newbie?

 

[Frisco]

Posting here doesn't accomplish anything.

Concerns and issues need to be aired, whether much is accomplished in a material way or not. AF is a great place to do that, as Slug point out earlier.

 

[chanchan05]

I do have to agree that its subjective though.

For the example on deleting someone's number accidentally, as long as you dont save it, hit cancel, and it wont be deleted. I can see "cancel" a lot around the interface... or maybe its a samsung thing.