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Participant
November 12, 2024
Question

Help Recovering Unsaved Photoshop Temp File - "Not a Valid Photoshop Document" Error

  • November 12, 2024
  • 1 reply
  • 851 views

Hi everyone,

I'm having trouble recovering an unsaved Photoshop file after a crash. I found a temp file in my system's temporary folder (originally named something like cr_sdk_temp_00453863.tmp). I tried renaming it with a .psd extension and opening it in Photoshop, but I keep getting an error:

I've tried a few things already:

  1. Renaming the file with different extensions (like .psb, .jpeg, .tif).
  2. Checking if Adobe Creative Cloud saved a backup (couldn’t find one).
  3. Attempting to open the file in other software like GIMP and IrfanView without success.
  4. Using file recovery software to see if there's a usable version – no luck so far.

I’m hoping someone might have experience with recovering Photoshop temp files or any other suggestions to help recover my work. I’d really appreciate any advice or tools that could help. Thank you in advance!


Feel free to customize any part

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1 reply

D Fosse
Community Expert
Community Expert
November 12, 2024

This won't work. This is an orphaned scratch file, basically a RAM dump, not a file that can be opened.

 

Photoshop will recover files from a crash if the file has been saved by the user at least once.

 

That happens automatically when Photoshop next launches. There is no point in looking for recovery files. Either they open automatically, or there's nothing to recover.