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Automatic Save Recovery Data NOT working

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
May 27, 2020
10 replies
10603 views

I have been working for about an hour and had a crash. However, Illustrator did not attempt to recover the file I had been working on.

Automatically Save Recover Data Every: 2 mintues is selected.

Turn off Data Recovery for completex documents was also selected, but this document consisted of about 100 rectanges, 20 lines, and 30 text elements - is that complex?

Also it give the folder as "/Users/...ences/Adobe Illustrator 22 Settings/en_US/DataRecovery.

Three stupid things about this:

1) The directory is truncated so I have no idea where to find it. Make this a text field that can scroll so I can actually read the path.

2) If I click"Choose" it does not select the current Auto Record folder - if it did, then I could at least find it.

3) I am using Adobe Illustrator 24.1.2 on the Mac (OS version 10.15.4). Why does it have "Adobe Illustrator 22 Settings" in the Data Recovery path?

The Adobe Illustrator 22 folder does not exist on my computer. I searched my computer for a "Adobe Illustrator 24 Settings/en_US/DataRecover" folder and found that. And its empty.

Does auto recovery / saving acutally work in Illustrator or do I need to put my Apple Watch on a repeating 10 mintue timer reminding me to save?

Bug

Correct answer Monika Gause

The default folder is in your preferences folder inside your user folder.

File Recovery is NOT a backup solution. It's a last straw option. And it might fail.

If you can't remember to make a backup or save your file regularly, take a look at the plugin Autosaviour, which can do that for you. It will save an AI file. There is a free version of that plugin available, that provides 1 backup for your file. The paid version can make a few more backups.

spaceprobe

Inspiring

So here we are in mid 2025 in a thread started five years ago, and I have suffered this same issue.

Data recovery did not work - the folder in prefs is just full of cyrptically named empty folders, and auto save - despite it being set to 5 minutes doesn't seem to have saved anything at all ever.

Don't give me a lecture about saving and being responsible - I have been doing this for decades and the ONE TIME I really really need this, because my own solutions have let me down - it fails.

It seems the Adobe product team has been dedicated to addressing this matter. and have been actively working to enhance the autosave/recovery functionality to better serve us in the future for a very very long time now with no progress or results. If this were me or my team we'd have all been sacked now and more competernt people put in our place.

Adobe still flawlessly take my money every month tho.

-- Adobe user since 1987 : Illustrator version 1.0 | Adobe Type Manager | PageMaker

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Anubhav M

Community Manager

Hello @spaceprobe,

I am sorry to hear about the trouble you're having with file recovery in Illustrator. Would you mind providing some details about the circumstances under which these files were saved or edited and the location of the files where they were stored? For example, were there any unexpected Illustrator crashes, sudden app closures, system shutdowns, or power cuts during the editing process?

Additionally, our team has made some improvements to file saving, which should also help with recovering files after a crash in the latest Illustrator (beta) release. Please try out the latest Illustrator (beta) (https://adobe.ly/469NKG0) and share your feedback.

Anubhav

fady zaky

New Participant

Whatever. Keep doing what you're doing. I suppose you just want to vent rather than trying to find a solution to a problem. In that case it's just as productive to step outside and shout at the sky. Griping in a public forum just for the sake of griping is liable to invite responses you may not like.

I did find a solution! A plugin! Like I said, this should just be working in the program itself!
Don't make it sound as if I don't know how to save a file. Fine if auto save and auto back up does NOT work in your software, but then don't pretend that it does!

A problem that has been clear for at least 4 years, just like many. Sure.... I'm the problem! 👍

Scoville Inc.

New Participant

I just lost hours of work (again) and I am constantly worried about using Illustrator because it's so unreliable.
Its frequent crashes not only cost me hours of valuable work but also disrupt my creative flow, causing stress and frustration.

Even simple tasks are difficult as Illustrator tends to lag constantly (not only on PC but also on my MacOS.
It's clear that the software is built on years of "workarounds" in the code.
Despite the high cost of the software and my very expensive PC setup, these issues persist and seem to worsen with each update. I suggest that Adobe start the app from scratch because, after years of use, it's only getting worse.

Monika Gause

Community Expert

@Scoville Inc. schrieb:

It's clear that the software is built on years of "workarounds" in the code.

So you are a coder and you have seen the code?

Despite the high cost of the software and my very expensive PC setup, these issues persist and seem to worsen with each update. I suggest that Adobe start the app from scratch because, after years of use, it's only getting worse.

You know what that would mean, right?

It would be a beta version for years with no guarantee that it would work better on your PC, because maybe the reason on your PC is something else. Illustrator works fince for most people, otherwise this forum would be a different place.

If you need help with your system, please contact http://helpx.adobe.com/contact.html

They can login to your system.

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Bobby Henderson

Community Expert

Whatever. Keep doing what you're doing. I suppose you just want to vent rather than trying to find a solution to a problem. In that case it's just as productive to step outside and shout at the sky. Griping in a public forum just for the sake of griping is liable to invite responses you may not like.

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Bobby Henderson

Community Expert

No piece of computer software or hardware is perfect. The same goes for computer users. Stuff happens. All anyone can do is work in a manner to be prepared for trouble as best as possible. Anyone who uses computers long enough will learn, often through painful experience, to adopt strategies to protect their data. It can be as simple as manually saving an open document before trying a really complex pathfinder operation that very well might crash Illustrator. Astute Graphics' Autosavior is a great (and free) plug-in that can automatically make back-ups of projects while you're working on them. All hard drives fail eventually. If the file isn't saved on two physical volumes (preferably in two different physical places) it isn't saved.

I disagree with the notion that software today is more buggy than it was in the past. People often look at history through rose-colored glasses. Crashes happened just as often 20 or more years ago as they do today. But back then the crashes were more likely to take down the entire computer system rather than just one application. Graphics software today does a lot more "heavy lifting" than its more primitive versions from back in the good old days.

Yeah, a full Creative Cloud subscription is fairly expensive. But this isn't consumer-grade software. It's for professional use. And you get a lot for the money. It surpasses what came in a Creative Suite Master Collection box that cost over $2000. The Adobe Fonts service on its own is worth a fortune.

fady zaky

New Participant

SERIOUSLY you have to get a plugin to have a decent auto save. THis says way to much about how Adobe is turning great working software into unusable ones.

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Mukesh27119163g5hv

New Participant

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robert_nield

Participating Frequently

It also hasn't worked for me. Upon opening C:\Users\-----\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator 26 Settings\en_US\x64\DataRecovery I found NO recovery files. None. After using Illustrator for years, while having the "Automatically save recovery data ... " option checked, it hasn't saved one file. Not one. This is beyond frustrating. The steady decline of Adobe products continues ...

Monika Gause

Community Expert

The recovery function doesn't save any files. It is not a backup solution.

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robert_nield

Participating Frequently

If you want to propose something to Adobe, please use Uservoice. http://illustrator.uservoice.com

I'm not staff, as about 95% of people on this forum.

I've been in this business for so long and at the beginning of my career learnt it the hard way that if you want to save your files, then do it yourself. Your computer won't do it. And before you do something that might affect your file, it's better to save the file yet again.

Works for me.

On top of that I can use whatever function the software offers and hope that it works. So far, the recovery feature has on some occasions saved me a few minutes. But if it hadn't done so I would have been prepared.

So - to conclude - Data recovery may or may not work. Save and hope. Thankfully the Autosavior plugin you mentioned is completely free. Thank you for being so responsive Monika

CrystalWhitlow

Known Participant

I am downright angry! What is the point of this feature!? It has never worked for me and this is so stressful and disappointing. Of course, I know to save, but I also don't expect a crash out of the blue! I expect better!

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SedawkAuthor

New Participant

And Illustrator has been SUPER crashy lately.

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Queenie5D95

New Participant

I completely agree with that! since iupdate the latest version the recovery is not working anymore even if you set the recovery folder it DOES NOT RECOVER. this is craZy, what is the purpose of the recovery if it DOES NOT WORK!!! Very annoying!!! and STRESSFUL!!!!

Monika GauseCorrect answer

Community Expert

The default folder is in your preferences folder inside your user folder.

File Recovery is NOT a backup solution. It's a last straw option. And it might fail.

If you can't remember to make a backup or save your file regularly, take a look at the plugin Autosaviour, which can do that for you. It will save an AI file. There is a free version of that plugin available, that provides 1 backup for your file. The paid version can make a few more backups.

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SedawkAuthor

New Participant

Thank-you Monika,

I just wanted to reply in hoping the developers see this message.

First of all, the folder is still messed up as it is not using the right version - there is an error there and perhaps this is why the recover file was not written.

Secondly, having a "might fail" when saving recovery information is crazy. OK - so the last 2 minute recovery file got corruppted on the crash - what about the one that was saved 4 mintues ago? You should at least be also to recove that one.

And having a 3rd-party auto save plugin is just lazy. Please walk across the hallway and see what the After Effects team has done with their auto-save. This is what I was expecting from Illustrator.

Monika Gause

Community Expert

If you want to talk to developers, post to http://illustrator.uservoice.com

Not having your own backup procedure is lazy. It is you and you alone who is responsible for your files. A power outage or a bad drive or messed up user privileges might affect all automatic solutions in a very bad way, so *don't* *ever* rely on it. It's good when it's working and it might give you back the things you have made in the file during the last few minutes, but don't ever rely on it for the work you have done in the last few hours, days or weeks.

And yes, I'm speaking from experience. But I've learnt my lesson with bad drives years ago.

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