Problems with expand cannot undo

[southofmotown]

I am a beginner/intermediate user of Illustrator. I used the pen tool to outline letters that compose a word (for example, the word "hello", which I have done without any issue many times before. In the process of creating this design, I expanded the outline. I found the problem because I was unable to color the letters, only the now expanded outlines of the letters. I spent some time trying to correct the problem before I decided to undo my work until I reached the point where I made the error. I did undo until it could undo no more, but I was still not at the point where I needed to go back. So, with that said....what do you suggest I do to to resolve this problem? Any workarounds? If nothing else, is there a way to reproduce the design without having to retrace it with the pen tool? Thank you so much for any help!

[marliton]

Hi. There is a limited undo number in Illustrator. You can modify that number in Preferences > Performance > Others.

If you work with Cloud documents you can use the Version History. Maybe it's a better option to keep the track of the editions.

[Met1]

Scan it and run image trace, then clean up (if necessary).

To your original issue try ungrouping and/or removing compound paths.

[tromboniator]

As I understand your description, it should be possible to color the letters using the Live Paint Bucket tool

.

Peter