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Andrew22087995t3ww
Participant
January 23, 2022
Question

Deleted InDesign files?

  • January 23, 2022
  • 6 replies
  • 377 views

Does InDesign delete files without warning?  An important file is suddenly gone.

I have been working on a long and complicated document for several months, occasionally saving it as a PDF to share with others.

I opened InDesign and was surprised to not see the file offered in the Recent list (in fact, it showed nothing I had been working on in the last month, only older work), but I had been working on teh file regularly for the last two months. 

Then I looked in my folder and found that the file was gone.  The PDF copies are there, but the InDesign file is gone. It is as if I put the file in the trash, except that it is not in the trash and there is record of it in InDesign.

Has this ever happened to you?

Can the file be recovered somehow?

I know now that I should regularly save drafts with new names, so that the old version is available if the working version gets corrupted or lost, so please don't recommend that I do this in the future.  I will.  But is there any way to avoid re-creating the document from scratch?

And does anyone know why or how my files was lost?

FYI: I am working on my home desktop PC, not part of a network and I have never worked on the file elsewhere.

Thanks.

This topic has been closed for replies.

6 replies

Jaspers Scheffers AMSE
Jaspers Scheffers AMSE
Inspiring
January 26, 2022

Yesterday I found the same problem, wich I explained in another thread:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/indesign-17-1-cannot-save-file-and-delete-the-original-file/td-p/12704534

 

The sollution for me was reinstall the previous version, but this is not the best sollution I assume. Can you explaine what you did to solve the problem? Maybe it works for me also. 

Barb Binder
Community Expert
Barb BinderCommunity Expert
Community Expert
January 25, 2022

Hi @Andrew22087995t3ww:

 

You don't have to tell us, but the idea behind the community forums is that one user's question and answer will help other users down the road, as all these posts are searchable. We promise not to laugh, and speaking for myself only, I have made every single mistake, stupid or otherwise, in the book. 

 

~Barb

~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training
    Peter Spier
    Community Expert
    Peter SpierCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    January 23, 2022

    What version of InDesign do you use, and what version of Windows?

     

    Are you certaion the .indd file is gone and that Windows hasn't changed the file association to Acrobat? We've had a couple of reports of that happening recently. Make sure you are showing file extensions (which is NOT the default behavior) in Windows file explorer to be sure.

     

    A
    Andrew22087995t3wwAuthor
    Participant
    January 24, 2022

    Thanks all for your help and advice, especially the tip/reminder to keep files in a cloud folder (Dropbox, Onedrive, etc.).

    I believe I have solved the problem and found the lost file -- an embarrassing bit of senior moment forgetfulness that I'd rather not explain.
      Barb Binder
      Community Expert
      Barb BinderCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      January 23, 2022

      I opened InDesign and was surprised to not see the file offered in the Recent list (in fact, it showed nothing I had been working on in the last month, only older work), but I had been working on teh file regularly for the last two months. 

      Did you inadvertently open up a different version of InDesign? Open the Creative Cloud desktop app to see which version(s) are installed. If more than one, try the other. 

       

      ~Barb

      ~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training
        Derek Cross
        Community Expert
        Derek CrossCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        January 23, 2022

        Over a long period of work crud builds up in InDesign documents which can cause corruption, to remove it, you should occasionally save it as an IDML document then incrementally name it and reopen it as an InDesign document again.

        BobLevine
        Community Expert
        BobLevineCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        January 23, 2022

        No. InDesign does not just delete files on its own.

        FWIW, you can avoid these headaches by working a Dropbox or Onedrive folder which would keep all versions you've worked on and allow you to recover a deleted file with one click.

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