diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index a8225634fd..16e5a30f74 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ Description: Provides a general-purpose tool for dynamic report generation in R
 Depends:
     R (>= 3.6.0)
 Imports:
-    evaluate (>= 0.15),
+    evaluate (>= 1.0.0),
     highr (>= 0.11),
     methods,
     tools,
diff --git a/R/block.R b/R/block.R
index 28ea201183..0b3556a7e4 100644
--- a/R/block.R
+++ b/R/block.R
@@ -495,7 +495,7 @@ rearrange_figs = function(res, keep, idx, show) {
     keep,
     first = res[-tail(which(figs), -1L)],
     last  = res[-head(which(figs), -1L)],
-    high  = merge_low_plot(res, figs),  # merge low-level plotting changes
+    high  = evaluate::trim_intermediate_plots(res),  # merge low-level plotting changes
     index = {
       i = which(figs)[-idx]
       if (length(i) > 0) res[-i] else res  # keep only selected
diff --git a/R/plot.R b/R/plot.R
index de47280b9a..e6ab6afd53 100644
--- a/R/plot.R
+++ b/R/plot.R
@@ -220,20 +220,6 @@ load_device = function(name, package, dpi = NULL) {
 }
 
 
-# merge low-level plotting changes
-merge_low_plot = function(x, idx = sapply(x, evaluate::is.recordedplot)) {
-  idx = which(idx); n = length(idx); m = NULL # store indices that will be removed
-  if (n <= 1) return(x)
-  i1 = idx[1]; i2 = idx[2]  # compare plots sequentially
-  for (i in 1:(n - 1)) {
-    # remove the previous plot and move its index to the next plot
-    if (is_low_change(x[[i1]], x[[i2]])) m = c(m, i1)
-    i1 = idx[i + 1]
-    i2 = idx[i + 2]
-  }
-  if (is.null(m)) x else x[-m]
-}
-
 #' Compare two recorded plots
 #'
 #' Check if one plot only contains a low-level update of another plot.
diff --git a/tests/testit/test-plot.R b/tests/testit/test-plot.R
index 9275ba5b8e..18957c7d72 100644
--- a/tests/testit/test-plot.R
+++ b/tests/testit/test-plot.R
@@ -14,34 +14,13 @@ assert('blank plots are removed', {
   (identical(classes(res), 'source'))
 })
 
-assert('plots generated by par(), palette() or layout() are removed', {
-  res = evaluate('par(mfrow = c(1, 2))\npie(islands)\nbarplot(islands)')
-  (identical(classes(res), rep(c('source', 'recordedplot'), c(3, 1))))
-  res = evaluate('layout(t(1:2))\npie(islands)\nbarplot(islands)')
-  (identical(classes(res), rep(c('source', 'recordedplot'), c(3, 1))))
-  res = evaluate('pie(islands)\nbarplot(islands)\npar(mfrow = c(1, 2))')
-  res = merge_low_plot(res)
-  (identical(classes(res), rep(c('source', 'recordedplot'), length = 5)))
-  res = evaluate('pie(islands)\npar(cex.main=1.2)\nbarplot(islands)')
-  res = merge_low_plot(res)
-  (identical(classes(res), c('source', 'recordedplot')[c(1, 2, 1, 1, 2)]))
-  res = evaluate('par(cex.main=1.2)\npalette(c("red","black"))\nbarplot(islands)')
-  (identical(classes(res), rep(c('source', 'recordedplot'), c(3, 1))))
-})
-
-assert('merge low-level changes', {
-  res = evaluate('plot(1)\npoints(1.1, 1.1)')
-  (classes(res) %==% rep(c('source', 'recordedplot'), 2))
-  (classes(merge_low_plot(res)) %==% rep(c('source', 'recordedplot'), c(2, 1)))
-})
-
 assert('captures grid graphics', {
   res = evaluate('library(grid)
     grid.newpage()
     grid.rect(gp=gpar(fill="grey"))
     grid.rect(gp=gpar(fill="red"))')
   (classes(res) %==% c('source', 'recordedplot')[c(1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 2)])
-  res = merge_low_plot(res)
+  res = evaluate::trim_intermediate_plots(res)
   (identical(classes(res), rep(c('source', 'recordedplot'), c(4, 1))))
 })