How to determine exactly which file actions will be reverted when doing an Undo in Windows Explorer?

I had a brain fart and forgot which was the last file action I performed in Windows Explorer on XP SP3. Explorer offers an undo but I am not 100% confident I remember what was the last operation I performed (a move, or rename).

I've had this situation before - so is there a tool or method to reveal what is going to be undone if I do use the Undo command?


On XP at least you can see the list of actions that undo will make by hovering over Edit/Undo.

Starting with two files named 1.txt and 2.txt I delete them both, hovering over the "Undo Delete" then displays the following text in the status bar:

Undo Delete '1.txt' and '2.txt'

I don't know if ths option is available in Vista and/or 7 but I assure you it works on an up-to-date XP.

For the above, confirmed to work on Vista and 7 by techie007 !

Windows 8.1 solution, credits to netvope in the comments below:

Windows 8.1 no longer shows what will be undone in the status bar, but you can add the Undo button in the top left of the Explorer window, and then hover the mouse over the button to see it


In the Explorer menu bar: Edit -> Undo ABC. "ABC" will be the thing it will undo.

For example, the last thing I did was Delete a file:

Edit_Undo ABC

As Shadok correctly points out in his answer regarding XP, if you have the status bar enabled (which it's not enabled in Vista+ by default) it will show you the file you deleted will be undone, except (in Windows 7) if you delete more than one object it shows Undo delete of ''.

This also works similarly for Rename(s), etc.