Adobe Photoshop is one of the most popular and powerful photo editing software used by professionals and amateurs alike. It provides advanced tools to edit and manipulate images in almost any way imaginable. However, Photoshop files with all the layered edits can be complex and large in size. It’s not uncommon for users to forget to save their work or accidentally exit Photoshop before saving the file, losing hours of editing progress. This leads to the important question – is it possible to recover unsaved files in Photoshop?
What Happens When You Don’t Save
If you don’t manually save your work in Photoshop and your computer crashes or Photoshop quits unexpectedly, your work since the last save will be lost. However, Photoshop has an auto-recovery feature that saves backup copies of your work periodically to help prevent data loss.
The Photoshop auto-recovery feature automatically saves a version of your open documents during the current working session. It saves these auto-recovery files every 10 minutes by default, but you can adjust this interval. Auto-recovery files are stored temporarily until you close the document.
When you restart Photoshop after a crash, a dialog box will appear showing any recovered files from your last session. You can browse these auto-recovery files and save any you want to recover permanently. Auto-recovery can help you restore work even if you forgot to save regularly.
However, Photoshop’s auto-recovery only retains your most recent session. If you didn’t manually save and then quit Photoshop normally, your previous work will still be lost. It’s best practice to manually save your work frequently to avoid any data loss.
Recovering Unsaved Files
If you accidentally close a Photoshop document without saving, there are a few ways that Photoshop can help you recover unsaved work through auto-recovery files, temporary files, and system backups.
Photoshop has an auto-recovery feature that saves revisions as you work on a document. These revisions are stored in a separate auto-recovery folder. To access auto-recovery files, restart Photoshop and go to File > Open Recent to see if your unsaved file is there. You may be able to restore a version of your work from the auto-recovery files.
Photoshop also creates temporary files as you work. These files are stored in a temp folder and can potentially help recover unsaved changes. To find temporary files, go to the temp folder location on your computer and look for files with the .PSB or .PSD extension.
If you have system backups enabled, you may be able to restore a version of your Photoshop file from a backup. Check your computer’s backup files and see if you have a version saved from before the work was lost.
While auto-recovery, temporary files, and backups can be helpful, recovering unsaved files is not guaranteed. Having robust backup practices is the best way to avoid lost work in the future.
Using Auto-Recovery Files
Photoshop automatically saves backup copies of your work at regular intervals to help you recover unsaved files. These auto-recovery files are stored in a special folder on your hard drive.
On Windows, auto-recovery files are saved to C:\Users\[user name]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop [version]\AutoRecover. On Mac, they are stored in Users/[user name]/Library/Preferences/Adobe Photoshop [version] Settings/AutoRecover.
To recover an unsaved file using auto-recover, launch Photoshop and look under File > Open Recent > Recovered Files. You should see a list of automatically saved versions of your file from your last Photoshop session. Browse the list, select the version you want, and click Open. Photoshop will open the auto-saved file.
However, auto-recover files do get overwritten each time you launch and close Photoshop. So if you already closed Photoshop since working on the unsaved file, the auto-recover file may be gone. Also, auto-save does not happen continuously – it occurs at timed intervals which you can adjust in Preferences.
So auto-recover works best for recovering files from your most recent Photoshop session, before closing the program. Relying solely on auto-recover for file protection is risky. Make sure to manually save your work frequently.
Source: https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/file-recovery-photoshop.html
Locating Temporary Files
When you work in Photoshop, it generates temporary files that allow features like autosave to work behind the scenes. These temp files are stored locally on your computer, usually in a folder like C:\Users\YourUsername\AppData\Local\Temp (Windows) or /Users/YourUsername/Library/Caches/Adobe/Photoshop (Mac) [1].
To find the exact temp folder location on Windows, you can type %LocalAppData%\Temp into the Run dialog. On Mac, go to your user Library folder then into Caches > Adobe > Photoshop [2]. The Photoshop temp folder will contain many files, with prefixes like PSCache, PSWebCache, and more.
Note that simply deleting these files does not free up drive space, since the OS just marks them as deleted but doesn’t actually erase them until needed. You need to empty the Recycling Bin/Trash afterwards. Also, don’t delete files while Photoshop is open or you may corrupt the temp files. Be sure to close Photoshop first [3].
Leveraging System Backups
One helpful tip for unsaved Photoshop files is to leverage your existing system backups. On Mac computers, Time Machine automatically saves hourly backups that can restore previous versions of files. On Windows 10 and 11, the built-in File History tool likewise performs periodic backups to external drives that may contain unsaved work.
Specifically, Photoshop files like PSD and PSB files will be included in these system-level backups. So if you forgot to save your work before closing Photoshop, check your Time Machine or File History external drives. You may be able to locate previous iterations of your Photoshop file from earlier in the day or week. This can save you from losing hours of work.
For example, this Photoshop user was able to recover unsaved files from a Time Machine backup after forgetting to save before closing the app. System backups like these run automatically in the background, so be sure to leverage them if you ever have unsaved files to try to recover.
Third Party Data Recovery
If the built-in data recovery tools in Photoshop and your operating system fail to recover your unsaved PSD files, you may need to turn to third party data recovery software. There are several paid recovery programs available that specialize in deep scanning of your storage devices to find deleted files.
Some popular Photoshop file recovery software options include:
- Stellar Photo Recovery – Scans storage media and recovers lost or deleted photos, videos, and other multimedia files including PSDs. Works on both Windows and Mac.
- Disk Drill -Recovers 200+ file formats from internal and external drives, memory cards, and more. Has free and paid versions.
- EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard – Retrieves lost documents, photos, videos, archives, and more from deleted, formatted, or damaged partitions. Works for Windows and Mac.
The advantage of using dedicated recovery software is it utilizes advanced file scanning to locate residual data from deleted PSD files. This gives you a better chance of getting back unsaved Photoshop work compared to built-in tools. Just make sure to avoid saving new data to the drive you want to recover files from.
While free recovery software exists, the paid versions often provide better results with advanced scanning. The cost is usually reasonable compared to the value of recovering lost Photoshop work and creativity. Just make sure to choose a reputable recovery software from a well-known provider.
Tips to Avoid Data Loss
There are several things you can do to avoid needing Photoshop file recovery in the first place:
- Save your work frequently – Make it a habit to use keyboard shortcuts like Ctrl+S (Win) / Command+S (Mac) to save your Photoshop files often. This updates your working file with the latest changes.
- Set auto-save in Preferences – Go to Preferences > File Handling and enable “Automatically Save Recovery Information” to save your restore data at an interval you define.
- Don’t work with only one file copy – Keep your original images separate from edited versions. Make copies of files before making major edits.
- Back up files – Use backup software or cloud storage to create copies of your work on external drives and remote servers. This protects against data loss if your main files are corrupted or deleted.
- Check before closing – Review unsaved document markers and the Save panel before closing Photoshop or your computer to ensure critical files are not at risk.
- Avoid system interruptions – Prevent power outages, computer crashes, or disconnections by not working from low battery levels and maintaining your OS.
Following best practices like these can reduce the chances you’ll need to resort to file recovery in Photoshop. Protecting your work along the way is more reliable than trying to retrieve lost data after the fact.
Recap
If you fail to save your work in Photoshop and lose unsaved changes, there are several options you can try to recover your files:
- Use Photoshop’s auto-recovery files, which save edits every 10 minutes and allow you to restore to your last auto-saved version.
- Check your computer’s temporary files folder, as Photoshop creates temp files that may contain your unsaved work.
- Leverage backups from your operating system or cloud storage, which store previous versions of your files.
- Use third party data recovery software that can scan your hard drive and find deleted files.
To avoid losing work, be sure to save frequently, utilize auto-save features, set restore points, and maintain backups. With some effort, you can often recover lost data in Photoshop. But your best bet is developing good file saving habits to avoid lost work.
Conclusion
To conclude, it’s critically important to develop good saving habits in Photoshop to ensure your work is not lost. While Photoshop does provide some built-in recovery options, these should not be relied upon in place of proper file management. The best practice is to save your Photoshop files incrementally as you work and utilize the auto-backup and auto-recovery options as an added safety net.
That said, there are some recovery options available if you forget to save your work in Photoshop. Auto-recovery files, temporary files, and system backups can potentially help restore unsaved work. And third-party data recovery software provides another option to try to salvage lost files. So recovery is possible in some cases with the right tools and techniques.
However, preventing data loss in the first place by establishing saving routines in Photoshop is much preferred over trying to recover unsaved work. Overall, being diligent about saving projects often and utilizing Photoshop’s built-in auto-save and auto-recovery features can give you peace of mind that your hard work will not be lost if an unexpected crash or technical issue occurs.