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Participant
April 21, 2021
Question

PSD file missing all layers & folders, black background only when opened.

  • April 21, 2021
  • 2 replies
  • 1816 views

I was working on a file this morning which had several layers grouped into folders, nothing fancy, some transparency. Saved it, closed PS (cs6). Windows (7) was trying to update and wanted to restart, and I do so.

I open the file again later, all of the layers have disappeared, all of the folders have disappeared, and the 'background' layer, which I'd removed, is back, completely black, locked.

The file size is still 178 MB. If I save a copy from PS, it goes down to what you'd expect a file containing essentially nothing would be, a few kb. If I max out contrast I can see a one-pixel strip of noise across the top of the artboard, and everything else stays black.

I assume the update process ruined the file somehow. Wondering if there's any way to recover/revert. The fact that the file retained its size has me hoping there's a way.

This topic has been closed for replies.

2 replies

Michael Bullo
Community Expert
Community Expert
April 21, 2021

Are you working out of cloud storage like Dropbox by any chance? If so, you might have previous versions automatically saved.

Participant
April 21, 2021
No I am working in my local

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Michael Bullo
Community Expert
Community Expert
April 21, 2021

Did you definitely save it as a layered Photoshop file? Could you have possibly saved it as something like a JPEG which flattened the file?

Participant
April 21, 2021
Yes I have saved it with all layers.

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Michael Bullo
Community Expert
Community Expert
April 21, 2021

Within the Photoshop Save dialog box is a checkbox for Layers. Was/Is yours turned on?