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sebastian2012a
Inspiring
March 25, 2021
Answered

HELP -- where does Illustrator store recovery files on Mac?

  • March 25, 2021
  • 3 replies
  • 56678 views

Illy crashed and re-opened a restored file which I thought was complete -- so I saved it as my original file AND saved that as my backup.

 

Then I realized that half the content was in fact missing from that file; weeks of work gone...

 

And now, I have spent the past hour on Adobe's support who keeps telling me I should find the file where I saved it. Which is not exactly what I need. 🙂

 

He also claims that my recovered files are in DropBox, which I frankly don't understand since I've never used that service and I doubt that Adobe is using that platform for storage of user files, but he is not able to provide any explanation. He also told me sign out of Creative Cloud and back several times, which didn't appear to serve any purpose.

 

So, what I despearately need to know is this:

 

  1. Exactly where does Illy store the recovery versions it automatically creates?
  2. I there any way for me to restore any of these versions?

 

I found several answers on Google, but none seems to work: One page, for instance, mentions this path: /Users/<username>/Library/Preferences/Adobe Illustrator, but I don't have access to that library, and it also seems to be empty.

 

So, any suggestions would be extremely appreciated! 🙂

Correct answer Monika Gause

The recovery files are stored in your user folder, the path is specified in the Preferences. Youcan change that.

 

BUT: The recovery file is only stored until you use it. So, you have recovered the file, you have saved it and then the recovery file gets deleted. There is no other backup, unless you created one deliberately by saving your file.

3 replies

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phildlight01
Known Participant
June 28, 2023

I know this is an older post, but it's the first Google result for this search and I thought the below might help others, or at least point out a flaw with the autosave process.

 

I just had a crash. I used the Adobe prompts to "reopen ai" and it told me there were recovery files. I chose to reopen the recovery files, which it did, and then promptly crashed before I could re-save the files. Now they're gone forever. We need a better system.

    Monika Gause
    Community Expert
    Monika GauseCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    June 28, 2023
    quote

    I know this is an older post, but it's the first Google result for this search and I thought the below might help others, or at least point out a flaw with the autosave process.

     

     We need a better system.


    By @phildlight01

     

    You need to set up a backup strategy. Save copies of your files and different version. No automatic methods can save you from doing that.

    P
    phildlight01
    Known Participant
    June 28, 2023

    I understand, and I do that, normally. However, on the rare occasions where we slip up and do a bunch of work while forgetting to manual save, the autosave shouldn't auto-delete itself. Or, there should be an option to retain all autosave data.

     

    What's odd in my case, and this could be a memory lapse, is I was fairly certain I manually saved several times, but when it crashed, the autosave was from this morning. I have a feeling the app had crashed earlier but continued to function and "saved" when I manually saved, but it actually wasn't. To be fair, this seems to have coincided with some odd network behavior/internet connectivity issues.

      Monika Gause
      Community Expert
      Monika GauseCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
      Community Expert
      March 25, 2021

      The recovery files are stored in your user folder, the path is specified in the Preferences. Youcan change that.

       

      BUT: The recovery file is only stored until you use it. So, you have recovered the file, you have saved it and then the recovery file gets deleted. There is no other backup, unless you created one deliberately by saving your file.

        S
        sebastian2012aAuthor
        Inspiring
        March 25, 2021

        Thank you Monika, I just realized that.

        Monika Gause
        Community Expert
        Monika GauseCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        March 25, 2021

        Are you on a Mac?

        Is perhaps Time Machine running? Then you can try if it saved a previous version.

          S
          sebastian2012aAuthor
          Inspiring
          March 25, 2021

          The link below correctly mentions that Illustrator allows users to specify a path to where backup versions are saved -- but those versions appear to be saved in a format I don't know: .aid

           

          Does anyone know how to open those files?

           

          https://helpx.adobe.com/in/illustrator/how-to/recover-files.html#:~:text=From%20the%20Preferences%20menu%2C%20choose,crash%20happens%20between%20recovery%20intervals

          S
          sebastian2012aAuthor
          Inspiring
          March 25, 2021

          Okay, got the answer now:

           

          When the Adobe supporter told me to quit Illustrator, it was literally the worst possible suggestion because it permanently deleted the recovery files I should've used.

           

          Lesson learned...

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