Raw File Deleted/Vanished after modifying it on Camera Raw and clicking "Done"

The same happened to me and Adobe have no costumer service.

The same happened to me, opened my photos in camera raw and disappeared… 5 photos from college photos. I have done everything and lost them. Not even in the trash can… Nobody is helping in Adobe… this is the worst service ever and I have been paying monthly for their service for 15 years!!!

I am having the same problem!!! I've accidentally clicked 'Done' twice now when editing .NEF files in Photoshop's camera raw. To my shock, when I went to open the .NEFs again from the original folder, thier new sidecar .xmp files are there (which I also cannot seem to open again in photoshop) but the original .NEF files are nowhere to be found??? Everyone on the internet seems to think im an idiot but they are DEFINITELY missing, I cant find them anywhere on my computer let alone the folder where they should be!!

This has now happened to me twice.  My expectations are that when I open a RAW file, Adobe does its dance and opens it in ACR for basic edits.  When done, I click OPEN and the image opens in APS and all is good.  First time this happened, about a week ago, APS started but did not open the file.  I went to the file manager and found the file in its expected directory.  I opened it again and it started ACR with my edits, great!  I clicked DONE (OPEN not available) and APS opened the file as expected.  Took the issue as nothing but a one-off glitch.

Today, I opened the file in ACR for the first time, did my edits, and OPEN was not available.  Other options were DONE and CANCEL.  Didn't want to cancel so I clicked DONE.  APS opened blank.  Checked the file system and the Raw was gone, no XMP file existed.  Found this thread and subsequently checked the TRASH BIN.  My RAW was there but I think this was because of my transfer from card to storage system.  All edits are gone this time.  I have to start over.  Could have been worse but this is not why I spend a lot of money on Adobe products.

Trust is a terrible thing to lose.  Once lost it's, difficult, maybe impossible to get back.  I can't risk losing my photos or worse, client photos.  Not planning on using ACR anymore.  Too bad, its a good tool, but if this is even a 1 in a thousand chance, it's not worth the risk.

Same just happened to me and, like you, found it in the trash. WTF!

The same thing just happened to me! 😢 I had just finished a photoshoot, and while editing a raw image, I clicked "OK," but the file never opened and has completely disappeared. I've checked everywhere, including my recycle bin, but it’s nowhere to be found. I’m honestly afraid to keep using the software now. Does anyone have any advice on what to do?

The same thing just happened to me with Photoshop 2024. I have the xmp file but not the original RAW photo. 

The exact same thing just happened to me...I was editing a photo in Camera RAW on a Mac and accidentally hit Done instead of Open. Once I realized my mistake, I attempted to reopen the file and it was gone...completely. I searched my Mac and it was nowhere to be found.  After reading the comments here, I looked in my Trash and there it was. Very, very strange and clearly not what the Done button is supposed to do.

This just happened to me aswell. I opened a .raf file directly from the SD card (I know.. I know...). Did a quick edit in Camera Raw, and pressed "done". The file were nowhere to be found on the SD card! The .jpg was still there (i usually shoot RAW+JPG), but the .raf was missing. It was not in the trash bin either (since it being a SD card). 

In the end I downloaded a file recovery tool called "Recuva" and managed to find that the file indeed was deleted on the SD, card. I managed to recover the file with the program. Screenshot of the Recuva UI below.

This is a SERIOUS bug. It shouldn't even be possible. 

Version: Adobe Photoshop 2023

By @nektariosk99045490

If it's Adode Photoshop Elements 2023 (version 21), then, clicking 'Done' will exit the ACR plugin dialog and close the raw file. The raw file will still be there, unchanged for the original raw data, but with a companion xmp sidecar file as described above.

In that case, just click 'Open' instead of 'Done' so that the rendered version opens directly in the normal pixel editor of PSE to create a rendered jpeg, tiff, psd or other photo format version (instead of closing the raw file).