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A
ali_4619
Known Participant
February 8, 2025
Answered

InDesign Auto-Save Issue

  • February 8, 2025
  • 2 replies
  • 984 views

Hi I just lost 5 hours of work on my InDesign document. It has been auto saving and suddenly 90% of my work on the design has disappeared. It has reverted to the version I was working on 5 hours ago. Please how do I retrieve all my work?

 

 

<Title renamed by MOD>

Correct answer Eugene Tyson

Sorry to hear, it's happened to all of us, and it's a tough tough thing when it happens. A lot of the times it happens it forces users, like myself who it has also happened to, to get into a habit of saving file not only with the Save command but also creating versions, using Save As and naming adding extra to the file name like FileName_v1.indd and FileName_v2 etc. 

 

I've certainly got into a habit of at least every hour to do this. 

 

With that unpleasant reality out of the way, just want to clarify some things.

 

Hard to know - InDesign has auto recovery if you set that to between 1-60 minutes, it creates auto recovery data for when indesign crashes.

Only InDesign Cloud Documents an autosave - I believe. 

 

Were you working on the Cloud Document or working locally on your hard drive? 

 

What is your OS and what version of the OS and version of InDesign etc.?

 

To cut to the chase
If you're on Mac - then do you have Time Machine running? 

If not I'd strongly recommend you set this up. 

 

If you're on Windows hopefully the Restore Previous Version is operating on the folders you're working on

Found this handy guide

https://its.uiowa.edu/services/shared-drive-filesiowa/recover-previous-version-file-or-folder-windows

 

 --------------

Some other things

Check the Recovery Folder Manually

On Mac: ~/Library/Caches/Adobe InDesign/Version [XX.0]/InDesign Recovery
On Windows: C:\Users\[Your User]\AppData\Local\Adobe\InDesign\Version [XX.0]\en_US\Caches\InDesign Recovery
If document was open when InDesign crashed, there’s a chance InDesign stored a recovery version there.

-------------------
Cloud Backup Services

Dropbox, OneDrive, or Google Drive, might be able to restore a previous version.

------------------------
Check Scratch Disks (Mac only)

Sometimes, temporary files get stored in private/var/folders. Using Terminal, search for missing files (ls -lt /private/var/folders).

2 replies

leo.r
Community Expert
leo.rCommunity Expert
Community Expert
February 11, 2025
quote

It has been auto saving and suddenly 90% of my work on the design has disappeared. It has reverted to the version I was working on 5 hours ago. Please how do I retrieve all my work?


By @ali_4619

 

In addition to other suggestions:

 

Can you please elaborate on what you mean by "It has been auto saving"? Does it mean that you weren't saving the file regularly in hope that InDesign auto-saves it, or that you're running a 3rd-party auto-save utility, or something else?

 

Also, at what point 90% of your work "has disappeared"? Did InDesign crash, or has the work disappeared after closing and reopening the document, or was there a different kind of event that made the work disappear?

    O
    oliviah89867351
    Participant
    September 25, 2025

    I would like to add to this discussion that I have had a problem with auto save today. I've lost work by opening a file, making destructive changes then closing it (assuming it will revert to prev version) and Indesign auto saved as it is a cloud doc. I didn't know this was a feature of CC and have discovered it is not possible to disable it either. No luck with recovering older version when I contacted Adobe help either. I know I can avoid this by saving to my laptop but then my file isn't backed up! Terrible feature, wish they would make it optional

    BobLevine
    Community Expert
    BobLevineCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    September 25, 2025

    I recommend using Dropbox or OneDrive. Versions are created with every save and you can revert with a few clicks of your mouse.

    E
    Community Expert
    Eugene TysonCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    February 8, 2025

    Sorry to hear, it's happened to all of us, and it's a tough tough thing when it happens. A lot of the times it happens it forces users, like myself who it has also happened to, to get into a habit of saving file not only with the Save command but also creating versions, using Save As and naming adding extra to the file name like FileName_v1.indd and FileName_v2 etc. 

     

    I've certainly got into a habit of at least every hour to do this. 

     

    With that unpleasant reality out of the way, just want to clarify some things.

     

    Hard to know - InDesign has auto recovery if you set that to between 1-60 minutes, it creates auto recovery data for when indesign crashes.

    Only InDesign Cloud Documents an autosave - I believe. 

     

    Were you working on the Cloud Document or working locally on your hard drive? 

     

    What is your OS and what version of the OS and version of InDesign etc.?

     

    To cut to the chase
    If you're on Mac - then do you have Time Machine running? 

    If not I'd strongly recommend you set this up. 

     

    If you're on Windows hopefully the Restore Previous Version is operating on the folders you're working on

    Found this handy guide

    https://its.uiowa.edu/services/shared-drive-filesiowa/recover-previous-version-file-or-folder-windows

     

     --------------

    Some other things

    Check the Recovery Folder Manually

    On Mac: ~/Library/Caches/Adobe InDesign/Version [XX.0]/InDesign Recovery
    On Windows: C:\Users\[Your User]\AppData\Local\Adobe\InDesign\Version [XX.0]\en_US\Caches\InDesign Recovery
    If document was open when InDesign crashed, there’s a chance InDesign stored a recovery version there.

    -------------------
    Cloud Backup Services

    Dropbox, OneDrive, or Google Drive, might be able to restore a previous version.

    ------------------------
    Check Scratch Disks (Mac only)

    Sometimes, temporary files get stored in private/var/folders. Using Terminal, search for missing files (ls -lt /private/var/folders).

      A
      ali_4619Author
      Known Participant
      February 11, 2025

      Hi Eugene, thank you so much for this perfect answer and for being so fast! 

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