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Cancelling and undoing while drafting

Mistaps happen, especially on a phone. The drawing step gives you three calm ways to back out without losing the work you've already done.

Cancel the current step (Esc or ✕)

Every tool works in small steps — place a first point, place a second point, pick an object, and so on. Cancelling always unwinds one step at a time:

  • The first cancel drops only what's in progress: the point you just placed, the line you're still stretching, the object you picked, or the selection box you're dragging. You stay in the tool, ready to try again.
  • A second cancel — when nothing is in progress — leaves the tool and returns you to plain selection.

On a keyboard, press Esc. On a phone or tablet, tap the button in the bottom bar whenever it's showing. Selected something by accident? One cancel clears the selection too.

A polyline you've partly drawn is kept: cancelling finishes it at the last point you placed rather than throwing it away.

The ✓ button does double duty

On touch screens the button confirms the point you've staged. Tapping it twice quickly is the same as cancel — it steps you back out of the current action.

Undo and redo

For anything already drawn, use ↩ undo and ↪ redo in the bottom bar (on touch), or Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y on a keyboard. Undo steps back through each finished action, right back to a blank canvas if you need it.

Last reviewed 2026-07-21 · All help topics