Automatic Save Recovery Data NOT working

[Sedawk]

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?

[Monika Gause · Accepted solution]

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.

[Sedawk]

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]

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.

[jfeez]

maybe one of the [abuse removed] replies i've ever seen in this forum, ever. thanks!

[Bobby Henderson]

Her reponse may be blunt, but she is right. So many computers users throw caution to the wind, not bothering to actually manage and back up their files. I still encounter people who don't even know the basics of moving files and folders around in either Windows File Explorer or Finder in Mac OSX. They just let everything pile up in the My Documents folder. When something catastrophic happens (such as a hard disc failure) they're totally caught off guard. Then they're outraged that no one can save their data. They should have been taking precautions in the first place.

[Sedawk]

As the original poster I must jump in here. My original question had nothing to do with my personal backup strategy and I have no idea why the condescending comments were so geared towards that. The question was about Illustrators terrible crash recovery. The response was completely wrong, offensive and did not focus on the issue presented.

I have been actively using computers since starting university in 1988. I have many HD failures over the decades and never has significant losses because I always had dedicated backups (I was a huge Iomega customer back in the day!). I still have my all my files from 1988! Today I have multiple file backup solutions that includes cloud, NAS and regular offsite backup HD copies on my files. I found it frustrating that the response to my original question that I (and other users experiencing the same issues) didn't have proper backup solution.

My question and issues are with the terrible file recovery that Illustrator provides for its daily workflow – especially since the software became so crash prone. Even great software occasional crashes, but most applications have good file recovery tools to help you get your last few minutes to an hour of work back. I have been doing this decades and I have had crashes various software. I used After Effects for hundreds of hours as an example - its crash recovery tools worked well. Hence my suggestion for the Illustrator to look at what After Effects was doing for crash recovery.

Illustrator’s crash recovery does not function well at all for such an expensive and critical application. When “Automatically Save Recover Data Every” is selected in the app at 2 minutes and doesn’t work for a simple file that I have been working on for 30 minutes then that is an issue. Unsure why all the “experts” think it is not.

[Anubhav M]

Hello @Sedawk,

We sincerely apologize for the frustration caused by the data loss you experienced during your work. We will escalate this to the product team to help improve the situation in the future. Please note that if Illustrator crashes between the specified recovery time intervals, some data loss may occur. Additionally, if Illustrator crashes during data recovery, the auto-recovery preferences are automatically turned off. In such cases, please re-enable data recovery from Preferences.

If you have any further questions or need assistance, please don't hesitate to reach out. We're here to help.

Thanks,
Anubhav

[Sedawk]

Thank-you for looking at this. Note that my original post was 4 years ago - so it seems a little late to escalate now. However, better late than never.

Note that the recovery interval was set to 2 minutes but work over the last 30 minutes was lost. Also, see the notes about the bugs in the recovery folder from the original post. And Illustrator did not crash during data recovery - it never tried to recover the file with data recovery turned on – probably due to the recovery folder bug. It simply didn't work for me (and countless other people in this thread).

[Clare29359014z18p]

it may have been 4 years ago but not fixed. I've just gone looking for a copy of a file after a crash and there is nothing in my recovery folder at all. Madness. 

[Paulina_Nowicka0806]

The "they" are your customers. So please show  a little respect. Also the people on this forum are not dumb, when we give you feedback, please take it seriously. Do you honestly think professional designers and illustrators do not save their files? 🙂  We are addressing an issue that has not been fixed. My 2023 version autorecovered beautifully but 2025 is garbage.  Stop maybe focusing on AI and fix the basics. Whats happening with Adobe ya'll, maybe you guys just make too much $$$ as a company and have threw caution to the wind, thinking we won't use other software....I guess thats what monopoly looks like!

[Anubhav M]

Hello @Paulina_Nowicka0806,

I truly empathize with your experience, and I want you to know that our product team is dedicated to addressing this matter. They are actively working to enhance the autosave/recovery functionality to better serve you in the future.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any more questions or need assistance. We are here for you and would be more than happy to help.

Anubhav

[Paulina_Nowicka0806]

This is so disrespectful Monika. We are not monkeys here, we are professionals! and if you want everyone to not use recovery, do not advertise it as a feature. You don't go to market with a solution if its terribly designed. You take our money and disrespect your customers on a service forum....???? are you kidding me? I am reporting this! BTW this is an issue all across the board for a lot of us. We make money from your software-so check yourself!

[CrystalWhitlow]

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!

[Sedawk]

And Illustrator has been SUPER crashy lately.  

[Queenie5D95]

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!!!!

[robert_nield]

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]

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

[robert_nield]

Looking at the Adobe Help site theres a whole section of documentation on Manage autosave and recovery settings. Perhaps Adobe should rewrite the documentation as it is profoundly misleading/incorrect.

[Monika Gause]

Autosave is something different. But it works only for Cloud documents. You did only mention Recovery.

Recovery is meant to try and save you up to the last 30 minutes. PLease describe what was the cause for losing your file. Illustrator crashed? Does it do that regularly?

[robert_nield]

Hi Monika - just to clarify I am referring to recovery exclusively, considering the topic of the initial post. Yes, illustrator crashes, every couple of weeks, although the cause is unknown - seems at random. Last crash was down to using the 3D effect and Materials >  Extrude and Bevel effect on a relatively simple layer. After Effects is buggy too. Other non-Adobe apps work fine. I've read the official Adobe documentation yet nothing helped - I lost half a day's work. This feature seems to never work, and it's not only effecting myself (see other posts) - perhaps Adobe should remove the feature - Let's face it, it wouldn't change much.

[Monika Gause]

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.

[robert_nield]

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

[Monika Gause]

You're welcome.

But since 3D and materials crashes Illustrator, you should really investigate that. Either your objects aren't that simple or your computer just isn't that powerful.

[toddguate]

Your comments are hurtful and your matter of fact statements are completely devoid of any empathy. Very sad to find people like you in the forums. I logged in just to comment this. Goodbye.