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Larty
Participant
March 13, 2017

P: Saved my .PSD file, but upon opening all my layers are GONE

  • March 13, 2017
  • 14 replies
  • 42100 views

So I was working on something pretty important for school. I saved it as a PDF once so I could print it and turned the check mark off at the "keep photoshop ability" thing in the PDF dialog box (So not in the save as box, but the dialog box you get after you choose .PDF and say save) cause it was going to be used for simple print, then I re-saved my photoshop file that I had open as a .PSD file since I noticed it had changed the file name to that of the .PDF, I even checked if it still had the layers, and it still had them.

 

I close the program, I return to it an hour later and all my layers are gone. They all merged together as one background layer. When I had last saved it the layers were still there, yet now there aren't. I tried going to the properties of the PSD file, to see if there were previous versions, but there was nothing. I tried looking in the Autorecovery, but yet again NOTHING.

 

I dont know what I did wrong, since the layers were still there when I had SAVED my PSD file... This was a very important file with schoolwork and everything that I had in hidden groups and layers are gone.

 

I dont know if anybody else has had this problem and if this can be fixed....

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    14 replies

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    kellym70024181
    kellym70024181
    Participant
    May 8, 2019

    This is still happening and I've lost hours of my own volunteer work.  I'm even more upset to know that this is a known problem that has not been changed.  Please, please remedy this.  I pay out of pocket to subscribe to Adobe for the purpose of doing volunteer print design.  Everyone knows how terrible it is to lose hours of work, but this has now happened to me TWICE on a very time consuming document.  The first time I lost my layers I thought I had made an error.  This second time I looked it up, and I am so, so upset that this is a known issue.

      gener7
      Community Expert
      gener7Community Expert
      Community Expert
      March 14, 2017

      Photoshop does print PSDs unless you are transferring to another program that does not read PSDs.

      As a safeguard, use the Image > Duplicate command  and run your save as PDF on the duplicate. You keep the Master psd file from harm.

      And of course I cannot emphasize keeping backup copies of your masters for such disasters.

        L
        LartyAuthor
        Participant
        March 14, 2017

        Yeah I think I should keep that in mind when I do that the next time...

        D Fosse
        Community Expert
        D FosseCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        March 13, 2017

        I've heard of this before. I think it qualifies as a bug, or at least undesired behavior.

        then I re-saved my photoshop file that I had open as a .PSD file since I noticed it had changed the file name to that of the .PDF

        That's the key. When you save the file subsequently you actually save the flattened PDF version, not the layered PSD you thought you still had open.

          davescm
          Community Expert
          davescmCommunity Expert
          Community Expert
          March 13, 2017

          Just followed the steps in first post.

          If you uncheck the "Preserve Editing capabilities" it saves a flattened PDF but also it unchecks the "Layers" box in the Save As dialogue.

          So, although the layers are still intact in your open document, if you then go on to Save As and change the document type to  a PSD you have to re-tick the Layers box again - otherwise you are saving the PSD as a flattened file.

          Dave

            D Fosse
            Community Expert
            D FosseCommunity Expert
            Community Expert
            March 13, 2017

            OK, so that's what happens.

            Either way, a trap easily fallen into. This behavior should be changed.

              davescm
              Community Expert
              davescmCommunity Expert
              Community Expert
              March 13, 2017

              When you use "save as" PSD you need to ensure that the "Layers" option is checked - it is normally by default.

              If you gave it a new filename you may still have the old saved version on your drive. If you gave it the same filename and have overwritten the old then you have lost the layers.

              Unless....

              Did you save it to the Creative Cloud Files folder ? If you did, you may be in luck as the old versions may still be available on the cloud copy of the folder. Old versions are still available for 10 days provided you have the storage room.

              I know it is a bit late now - but for the future the best practice is incremental PSD saves on important files e.g filename A.psd ; filenameB.psd etc

              Dave

                L
                LartyAuthor
                Participant
                March 14, 2017

                I actually did checkmarked that when I re-saved it...so that's why I am so confused by it.

                the file still had layers, the layers tab was checked, it had everything.

                I looked at the time it was last saved and it doesn't even match up the last time I saved it, since the last time I saved it was around 4 PM - 4,30 PM, but the file says the last time it was edited/saved was around 3 PM (which is the time I saved the .PDF)


                I actually dont know if it's in my CC files folder...but I think I didn't...

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