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Editing basics
You can use the Photos editing tools to easily make simple changes to your photos, such as rotating them or cropping them to get the best framing.
![A photo in editing view with editing tools on the right.](https://help.apple.com/assets/5A5402AC680CE2A45E0ECC04/5A5402AD680CE2A45E0ECC0B/en_US/ca8b99459a81ded67419366eaf19c234.png)
When you change a photo, Photos keeps the original so you can always undo your changes and revert to the original look.
Changes you make to a photo appear everywhere the photo appears in your library—every album, project, and so on. If you want to give a photo a unique look that appears in only one version of the photo, first duplicate the photo and work on the copy.
Edit a photo
To open a photo or video for editing, do one of the following:
Double-click a photo thumbnail, then click Edit in the toolbar.
Select a photo thumbnail, then press Return.
Select a photo thumbnail, then choose Image > Show Edit Tools.
While editing a photo, doing any of the following:
Zoom in or out on a photo: Click or drag the Zoom slider.
Apply adjustments: Click Adjust to display the adjustment tools. For more information about making adjustments, see Adjust light, exposure, and more.
Apply filters: Click Filters to display filters you can apply to change the look of your photo. For more information about applying filters, see Use a filter to change a photo’s look.
Crop the image: Click Crop to display the options for cropping a photo. For more information about cropping, see Crop and straighten photos.
Rotate a photo: Click the Rotate button
in the toolbar to rotate the image counter-clockwise. Option-click the button to rotate the image clockwise.
Automatically enhance a photo: Click the Enhance button
to have the color and contrast of your photo adjusted automatically. To remove the changes, press Command-Z or click Revert to Original.
To stop editing, click Done or press Return.
While you’re editing a photo, you can press the arrow keys to switch to other photos.
Duplicate a photo
To create different versions of a photo, you duplicate it and work on the copy.
Select the photo you want to copy.
Choose Image > Duplicate [number] Photos (or press Command-D).
If you’re duplicating a Live Photo, click Duplicate to include the video portion, or Duplicate as Still Photo to include just the still image.
Compare photos before and after editing
While editing a photo, you can compare the edited version with the original.
Double-click a photo to open it, then click Edit in the toolbar.
Click and hold the Without Adjustments button or press and hold the M key to see the original photo. Release the button or the M key to see the photo with edits.
Copy and paste adjustments
After you adjust a photo, you can copy the adjustments that you’ve made and paste them on other photos. You can only paste adjustments onto one photo at a time.
Note: You can’t copy and paste the settings from the retouch tool, red-eye tool, crop tool, or third-party extensions.
Double-click a photo you’ve made adjustments to, then click Edit in the toolbar.
Choose Image > Copy Adjustments.
Double-click the photo to which you want to apply the adjustments, then click Edit.
Choose Image > Paste Adjustments.
Tip: You can also Control-click a photo and choose Copy Adjustments or Paste Adjustments.
Undo changes to a photo
You can quickly undo any change you don’t like. If you want to discard all the changes you’ve made to a photo and start over, you can revert the photo to the original image.
Undo the last change you made: Choose Edit > Undo, or press Command-Z.
Undo all changes and revert to the original photo: Do one of the following:
While editing the photo, click Revert to Original.
Select the photo and choose Image > Revert to Original.
Undo all adjustments while editing in the Adjust pane: Click Reset Adjustments.