Un-combione shapes (without using undo)

[gpholman]

Brain has turned to mush - I'm sure this is very simple but having combined 2 shapes I want to un-combine them. I could use Undo but I've made a number of other changes to the document since so this wouldn't be ideal.

[Christine Farrelly]

Not possible.

[handrawn]

what you may be thinking of is 'break shapes' on the arrange menu

this may enable you to get back [with a bit of additional use of intersect/subtract/slice/combine] and it may not; it is really only useful in this case where shapes have been combined into a complex shape

if the file is still open I would save it; duplicate the saved copy if I needed to preserve what I had done to date; then use undo to go back to where I was in the first file

can then cut and paste replace, rename files or whatever is required

as Christine said no way to automatically release a combined shape

[gwpriester]

Sometimes you have to bit the bullet and hit Ctrl Z until you undo the Combine Shapes. Then chalk it up as a learning experience.

[itsfransie]

If the other changes you made are separate shapes, you can select those, hit copy (ctrl-c), then undo to uncombine. Then paste the new shapes in place.

[handrawn]

you certainly can - although undo does not always work the way you might expect/like [nor does redo], so for mission critical work I would make a backup file before I start just in case - then at least I don't end up worse of than I was