Where are my temporary files

[revcall]

My computer crashed and had to reboot. When I rebooted, I opened Adobe Acrobat only to get the message that the 'root folder' could not be located. The file I was working on seems to be completely lost. I went to: C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Acrobat\DC but the AutoSave folder is empty. Any suggestions where my file might be or am I out of luck?

My autosave preference is every 5 minutes.

Thank you

[Tariq Ahmad]

Hi @revcall,

I’m sorry to hear about the crash — that can be very frustrating, especially when you’ve been working on a document.

Acrobat’s AutoSave feature keeps temporary recovery files in the folder you checked (AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Acrobat\DC\AutoSave), but those files are cleared automatically when:

• The file is saved and closed normally, or

• Acrobat is closed (due to a crash) and can’t restore the session on reopening.

If the AutoSave folder is empty, it usually means Acrobat either:

 - Didn’t get a chance to save a recovery file before the crash

Unfortunately, Acrobat does not keep hidden backups of unsaved work outside the AutoSave folder. Once those temporary files are gone, they can’t be retrieved from Acrobat itself.

It is always recommended to save a file, and if possible upload the file to cloud storage.

You can still try:

• Searching your computer for files modified around the crash time (e.g., *.pdf or *.tmp) — sometimes unsaved temp files can end up in C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Temp.

• Checking if the file was stored in a synced location like OneDrive or Dropbox — they may have a previous version.

• If the file came from email or another source, you might be able to reopen the original and reapply the changes.

For the future, you might consider enabling more frequent AutoSave (e.g., every 1–2 minutes) and also doing periodic manual saves to avoid data loss in case of unexpected shutdowns.

Best regards,
Tariq | Adobe Community Team