Clear Cache deletes all captivate files

This exact thing just happened to me. WHY? What a terrible UX! Every single file on my desktop is gone. It would be so simple for Adobe to add a warning that these two folders are the same and that by clearing the cache, you will lose every. single. file. This issue goes back ten years! Come on, Adobe.

I figured out my problem was making my desktop the cache, but why would it delete everything....folders, microsoft files...everything? How can I get it all back? I've learned my lesson and adjusted where the cache is, but am I out of luck?

Clear Cache means clear cache? Not in this case.

Can you rename this button to Delete Entire Project and All Sub directories?

It's a more helpful name.

I'd like to add my vote to what must be one of the worst UX experiences dished out by Captivate.

And this is coming from one of its biggest fans. Love captivate but this has cropped up on forums again and again.

Huge captivate project, multiple files going back four months. We cleared the cache to help with issues of captivate crashing, and Captivate merrily went ahead and deleted the whole project and all sub directories. literally hundreds of files locally and then mirroring that on the cloud server. Project files, assets, images, ohhh and a handful of cached files.

By default the cache folder was set at top project level. No one changed it, and even if they did, it should have a RED WARNING FLAG.

I don't expect a Product/UX experience to take me down the same route as a virus.

Product Team, take note and please fix or remove that dysfunctional button, please. Wasted hours sorting this mess out today.

Happy Path - delete files of a certain type, not any file any type any folder.

But keep up the rest of the good work

Cheers

Rod West,

I just cleared my cache, (stored on my local drive), and then used an undelete program (Recuva) to see if they were recoverable, and they were all there. It may be too late for you now, but it may be worth a try.

Good luck.

Peter

I just fell into this same trap-- I just got a new PC, and don't have admin rights to set anything up. The cache and project folders were set to the same path; I clicked the clear cache button, and lost ALL OF THE WORK IN MY PROJECT FOLDER.

I *sort of* get that, because the two directories were set to the same folder, this is the "expected" result. However, this is an awfully destructive design for this function. What business does the Captivate application have deleting non-Captivate-cache folders (and, for that matter, non-Captivate files)?

I would classify this as a horrible UX experience. I most certainly did not give Captivate permission to purge a directory of its entire contents when I pushed that button; I gave it permission to "clear the project cache", because that's what the button is labeled. I think its a fair assumption that "project cache" means "this project's cache," and that Captivate would know that for "this project" the folder "xyz" houses cached files. Or, in more general terms, that Captivate has a way of identifying the cache directories that it created, since it seems to have some kind of naming convention when it creates them.

Perhaps all of this is debatable. The bottom line is: Is there a way to recover the files and directories that were deleted?

Michael, could you check the file location folders in Preferences, General? Maybe you have both the Captivate files and the cache files in the same folder?

Lilybiri