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Participating Frequently
March 14, 2017
Question

All Premiere Pro project files have disappeared from everywhere!

  • March 14, 2017
  • 27 replies
  • 57489 views

Hello,

I have no idea what to think here. All of a sudden, all of my .pproj files (and auto saves) are missing off my computer. I was working in a project earlier today, even, and that file is gone, too. I thought I may have accidentally saved that file in a different location, and that's when I discovered that every single .pproj file I had saved was missing (dozens of them).

So, some background. I am using Adobe CC 2017. I had .pproj files saved both locally (on my 😧 drive--Windows) and in Dropbox (which is also synced to a separate folder on the D:drive of my PC). Both of these folders are also backed up by CrashPlan. All .pproj files have disappeared from the local folders, from Dropbox (local and web UI), and CrashPlan backup files. When I open PremierePro, it doesn't show anything under recent files. When I do a search of my computer, none of those missing files come up. They are not in the Recycle (Trash)--of course, as I did not delete them. Nothing else seems to be missing except for these .pproj files (and the associates auto save files). I still have all my After Effects project files (.aep). All the video and audio files that were in the same folders as the Premiere Pro project files are still there. So this definitely seems like the issue is with Premiere Pro.

How in the world did all these files disappear, and is there any way to get them back? I figured having the files backed up locally, through Dropbox, and through CrashPlan would be enough of a contingency plan to prevent the loss of data. However, I have never heard of (or experienced) anything like this before.

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    27 replies

    dloewen4
    Participant
    December 1, 2017

    Same issue. I quit Premiere Pro, saved the file when prompted on quitting, then restarted the app. Now the recent projects list is empty, and the project files are missing, including previous versions (saved with Save as...) and auto-saves. To add insult to injury, all time machine backups are missing the Premiere project files as well! Support said they could not help and told me to contact a PC shop to recover the files.

    Kevin-Monahan
    Community Manager
    Community Manager
    December 2, 2017

    DLoewen,

    Which version of Premiere Pro? Have you updated to the current version?

    Thanks,
    Kevin

    Kevin Monahan - Sr. Community & Engagement Strategist – Pro Video and Audio
    dloewen4
    Participant
    December 2, 2017

    Thanks for the reply, Kevin. Yes, I'm on the latest version 12.0.0 (build 224).

    Participant
    November 10, 2017

    I just encountered the same problem, both happy and sad to encountered this post ... I haven't used Premier CC 2017 for at least a month or two and had several projects that I still planned to do a little tweaking on. After coming back I found that all of my projects had been deleted. Unfortunately I have no way to recover these. In my case it is not a loss that I can't recover from but this still makes me really uneasy with the security of my projects.

    loui666
    Participant
    November 2, 2017

    Frustrated.imac.user: Adobe you fix, please?

    I'm a wedding videographer that has just updated to 12.0.0......... 

    After spending long-time on edit [apart from the program often crashing after 'saving-as'] frequently it's been the case that when I re-open the project, the timeline is empty, or, none of the work I did in the last session has saved...

    I have audio files missing from two backups, as well, and no way would I have dumped them, so yeah, kinda scratching my head on that one and would love to blame this program for that too...

    Obviously, I a was fool to update mid-project, but laugh at me now coz having opened project in new version, the old version won't recognise project either... so I start again, but yeah: the saving (/ potential deleting) issue has me thinking I'd best look at alternative editing software.

    rachelg57136146
    Participant
    November 6, 2017

    I just started paying for CC 2018 and just lost everything after an export that I had saved and had been working on for days.

    ArtGirl42
    Participant
    September 19, 2017

    I just downloaded the Premier Pro Trial on 9/17. I was working on a project, and suddenly, the entire folder where I stored my edited and exported files  AND original .Mov files is gone. It is not even showing in the trash can! Two days work has completely vanished. The .prproj files are still there in the Premier folder. When I open a prproj file, I get the error message my media files are missing.

    I have not moved any files and they were all on my hard drive. This happened after I exported a second file as an MP4. I then tried to open my original project, and started getting error messages.

    Now I am concerned that a virus was downloaded with this trial and my computer has been compromised. This makes me extremely hesitant to purchase this product.

    Peru Bob
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    September 19, 2017

    What exact number version did you download?

    ArtGirl42
    Participant
    September 19, 2017

    2017.1.2- I downloaded the  trial  version from the Adobe site.

    SilviaLozzaVideos
    Participating Frequently
    April 25, 2017

    I'm having the same problem with CC2017.

    Worked on the project on the 14th, 15th, 17th and 18th of April.

    I only have the autosave projects for the 14th and 15th. The project is backdated to the 15th as well.

    I contacted adobe and they said that's not possible and I must have cancelled the files.

    I haven't. I also used a data recovery software to check, and nothing.

    Participating Frequently
    March 14, 2017

    I am, thanks for checking. I have two user accounts, but only use the second one for demo purposes.

    I am actually thinking this might be a Dropbox issue after all (which I'm looking in to some more). I have no idea what happened, but it seems a huge number of my Dropbox files were deleted (which then deleted them from my CrashPlan backups as well). I was finally able to find a couple of local project files (still not sure why they were missing from where they should have been), and am working on restoring some Dropbox files. I still don't know why only my .pproj files (and the auto save files) got deleted when everything else in Dropbox was fine.

    kulpreet singh
    Inspiring
    April 17, 2017

    Hi Heatherr,

    Were you able to recover your project files from Dropbox?

    Please let me know the status of your issue.

    Thanks,

    Kulpreet Singh

    Participating Frequently
    April 26, 2017

    I was able to successfully restore the files from Dropbox (thankfully I have a paid account that allows me to do this). So far, though, I have no idea why only those Premiere Pro files were removed (I certainly didn't do it). They went missing from many different folders, but only those files (all the other files in those Dropbox folders were fine). So, I'm happy that I have my files again, but wary as I don't know why this happened, or if it might happen again (potentially without me being able to recover).

    Inspiring
    March 14, 2017

    Are you logged in to your computer under the correct user account?

    MtD