Emacs: Save Split Windows Configuration

Undo Split Window (winner-mode)

winner-mode lets you restore to a previous Split Windows configuration.

(new in Emacs 23.2 (Released 2010-05))

Example use:

1. Alt+x winner-mode to turn it on.
2. Alt+x split-window-below.
3. Alt+x split-window-right.
4. Now, remove all split panes by Alt+x delete-other-windows.
5. Now, you can go back to previous split pane config by Alt+x winner-undo 【Ctrl+c ←】. There's also winner-redo 【Ctrl+c →】.

If you want this functionality always, put this in your Emacs Init File:

;; restore split pane config, winner-undo, winner-redo
(winner-mode 1) ; 

Save Split Windows Config to Register

You can save windows config to register, like this:

• Alt+x window-configuration-to-register 【Ctrl+x r w】 (then give it a letter or digit as name).
• Alt+x jump-to-register 【Ctrl+x r j】 to restore a previously saved configuration.

Note: register content is not saved when you quit emacs, even if you have desktop-save-mode on.

Save Split Window Config Across Sessions

In Emacs 24.4 (Released 2014-10) or later, if you restart emacs, previous session's windows and split-panes are automatically restored. This is because desktop-save-mode is on by default. 〔see Emacs Init: Restore Opened Files (desktop-save-mode)〕