Is there a history in Camera Raw?

[mburke]

I know this is a dumb question. I have used Lr mostly for the last few years but am thinking of switching to Bridge and Camera Raw and PSCC. One of the things I liked about LR was the history panel but can't find it in Camera Raw.

[Ann JS]

CameraRaw handles History differently and I think, more usefully, too.

First you have unlimited Undo and Re-do;
and then you can save as many versions (Snapshots) as you wish by hitting Cmd Shift S (Ctrl Shift S  in windows) at any time while you are editing.

[TonyW]

ACR does not have the database that is the LR catalogue, so edits are stored in sidecar (xmp) files.  Whereas LR stores edit instructions with the catalogue and of course also gives the options of saving the edit instructions in a separate sidecar file

The .xmp's contain the edit instruction from your moves within the ACR dialogue, for instance reading the xmp file in a word processer will reveal something like:
        crs:WhiteBalance="Custom"
        crs:AutoWhiteVersion="134348800"
        crs:Temperature="4200"
        crs:Tint="-6"
        crs:Saturation="0"
        crs:Sharpness="25"
        crs:LuminanceSmoothing="0"
        crs:ColorNoiseReduction="25"
        crs:VignetteAmount="0"

So the .xmp file is your history, including any snapshots you take, but it only contains the last edit revision not a linear history of what has gone on before

If you are thinking of moving to PSCC then I would have thought that you would automatically be entitled to LRCC as part of the package so you may want to continue with LR rather than Bridge and ACR - just a thought 

[digitaldog]

There is no step by step History in ACR as you are used to in LR. And of course there are Snapshots and Virtual Copies that ACR doesn't provide. So you've got more options in how you split iterations of editing in LR than ACR.

[Ann JS]

While I use the History Panel in Ps, I have found no need nor desire for one in either Lr or in ACR  where every slider is instantly and non-destructively re-slidable anyway.

Multiple-undoes and the saving of Snapshots does everything that I need (ACR provides both); and I find the snail-speed operation and constant freezing of Lr intolerable — especially for anyone who wants to work on large numbers of files simultaneously.

[john beardsworth]

ACR does provide snapshots but its Undo is purely during the current working session. Exit Bridge and you can't undo, unlike subsequent Lr sessions where you can go back to previous history steps or use them in the Before/After view. You can't use ACR to edit images when they are offline, unlike using Lr's Smart Previews, and there are many other ways in which the Bridge/ACR experience is significantly less than Lightroom's.

[Testinodele]

No History Brush...but it has unlimited undo while the image is open in ACR. Once you close an image, undo is lost. You can use Snapshots to store various states of an image adjustment series of steps–really useful.