My files not auto saved on illustrator

[humako]

I was working on my final project in the Illustrator application two weeks ago. Today, when I opened my file, I noticed that only the beginning of my project was saved, and despite taking a backup, the file disappeared. It feels like my final project suddenly vanished. I pay to use Illustrator to enhance my skills, and is this really happening?

[Monika Gause]

Exactly where did you save the file? Is this a Cloud file?

Is "Save in background" truned on in the preferences? If so, turn it off.

Did you experience a crash when you last saved?

Is the backup complete?

[humako]

Yes. I have saved it both in the cloud system and on my desktop computer. But both are not available right now. I haven't checked if the background is open, to be honest. How can I do that? 

[Monika Gause]

That setting is in Preferences > File handling.

When saving the Cloud file, did you give it enough time to synchronize before turning off the computer?

Can you see the complete CLoud file when you open your Cloud account on the web?

[humako]

The file handling time is 2 minutes. But my project was never saved from the beginning. I was working on the same project for more than 2 hours now i can see that only first 10 minutes is saved.

[Monika Gause]

I was referring to "Save in background". You need to turn that off in the preferences.

As for the time you have set up. Are you referring to the Cloud autosave?

Or are you referring to the recovery?

[humako]

Why are you suggesting I turn off background saving? The latest changes I made aren't in my desktop file or in the cloud. My project is still saved as unfinished. How can I recover my project?

[Monika Gause]

"Save in background" has caused saving issues like yours for a lot of users.

So did you try and turn it off?

For recovery: can you go back to a version that has everything in the Cloud document?

[humako]

I turned off saving in the background, but the my project remains the same. My project still looks unchanged in the cloud.

[Monika Gause]

I think you need to get in contact with support. They can login to your computer and might also have options to check your cloud account.

https://helpx.adobe.com/contact.html 

[Bobby Henderson]

For future reference, there is a plugin you can get for free from Astute Graphics called AutoSavior. It can do much more than the stock auto-save functions in Adobe Illustrator.
https://astutegraphics.com/plugins/autosaviour

[Gabriel33316472f651]

Thanks a lot Bobby Henderson this month i've lost more than 10h of work to stupid glitches, this means that at 20$h im loosing 3.000$ USD per year to a program that's supposed to be the best, auto save is USELESS I have it set to save every 2 minutes it has NEVER recover anything after a crash, even the original save files have more data than the "recovered file"

Adobe just doesn't care about his product when a third party free plugin makes a better work than the "Stock" feature. I'm looking for alternatives, I'm going to try Affinity.

[Monika Gause]

Don't forget to save your artwork. No app will reliably save your art for you.

[Gabriel33316472f651]

Am I the only designer that has problems with this? Some days I can remember to save every 5 minutes but other times you get on the groove with a design and two hours fly by! The funny thing is that all other programs I use have auto save, even Corel has a recovery feature that saves every 5 minutes and actually works! The only program with serious issues is Ai, Ive been using adobe software since 2010 and it seems it's getting worse over time. Am I the only one that has this impression?

[Bobby Henderson]

The automatic backup feature in CorelDRAW isn't bulletproof (I know because I've used CorelDRAW extensively in addition to Illustrator). I've seen crashes happen where the auto backup file ends up being a blank document. The one backup feature I think is dependable in that app: when you click Ctrl+S it automatically creates a backup copy of the file's previously saved version. I've long had the habit of saving my work periodically as I get farther through a project. All sorts of things can happen that can crash an application or take down the whole computer.

[just_sim]

i just had this same issue. lost 4 hours of work from adobe crashing. i admit though it was dumb on my part to not realize i didnt save, but i was so into the work im sure many people have done this before. after my adobe crashed i looked into ways to get my work back, couldnt do it but did find the auto save thing so turned in on also to every 2 minutes. also remembered to save periodically at least if i didnt get carried away, but then the next day it crashes again. and no auto saves it only has to my last actual save, didnt lose as much as before but still is ridiculous that this is happening and the auto save doesnt work.

[Gabriel27574810hsld]

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one with this problem, what hardware do you have? 

I've done extensive search about the constant crashes on illustrator and a few posts where saying that Adobe has a lot of problems running on AMD processors, I have a Rizen 7. But at work when my boss wanted a new work station I made sure to get Intel,

I5 with 64 gigs of ram and an RTX 4060.

And he's program is crashing all the time to. 

We are both noticing that the program seems to be getting worse over time. 

Any designers with NO problems could tell us what hardware they are using?

[FEB2025]

This has also just happened to me, and I've just happened across this post... I work in software development and it's mind-blowing to me that you're telling people to go buy a plugin to provide BASIC functionality they're already paying for.   Apart from auto-save being a standard workflow/productivity feature these days, 'auto-recovery's' fundamental purpose is to provide support for the software product's UNRELIABILITY.  So either make your software product RELIABLE or at least make your features which are meant to support the instability of your product RELIABLE.  
It's 2025, plenty of applications reliably save and auto-save documents, not sure what rock you've been living under.

[Gabriel27574810hsld]

THANKS! That's exactly my point. They are reviving close to 4.500 MILLION a month, you would think they have good product development. But what I'm seen is the program getting worse every update. Friday I installed a new update to see if it would solve some of the problems, first file I opened had a bug with text resizing and editing, it crashed the program twice in a row and when i rolled back the update THE PROBLEM WHAT STILL THERE!, I had to go back to illustrator 2024 and re do all my presets and options. I lost hours setting up. What is this? 

And id like to point out, I use to work in computer technical support. I used a lot of programs and i have seen a lot of strange bugs. I'm not exaggerating when I say illustrator is getting worse!

[Anshul_Saini]

Hi All,

I understand how frustrating it can be to lose work, especially after hours of effort. While Illustrator has an Auto-Save feature for Cloud documents and a recovery mechanism for unexpected crashes, it doesn’t function the same way as Auto-Save in some other applications. Illustrator’s auto-recovery feature only works if the application crashes unexpectedly and gets tuned off for complex files for better performance.

If your file was saved to the Cloud, try checking Adobe Creative Cloud documents to see if an earlier version is available. If the file is local, you can search for temporary recovery files.

For those experiencing frequent crashes or missing files, it may help to:

• Turn off “Save in Background” (Preferences > File Handling)

• Manually save regularly using different file versions (v1, v2, etc.)

• Consider external backup solutions, such as Time Machine, OneDrive, or Dropbox

While Illustrator’s recovery system works under specific conditions, having multiple backup strategies in place is always a good safeguard.

Best,
Anshul Saini

[Gabriel27574810hsld]

@Anshul_Saini I fiddled for days with does settings and turning "tun off for complex files" on or off doesn't make a difference, 

If "save in background" is causing crashes is Adobes job to fix this bug" that's my problem right now, I spend hours researching bugs and applying solutions to make my program WORK, I'm paying for the program, it's the most expensive program in paying and at the same time the one I'm having the most trouble with. You find that normal? Can you send a message to the development team? This month I've been compiling a list of every time the program crashed and what was the cause and solution if I found one, is Adobe interested in that list?

I'm going to give you an example, a few month ago my program was constantly crashing, even with blue screens, I started to monitor my RAM usage and I noticed it was almost always in 97-98 percent. So my assumption was that I need more RAM, I doubled the amount of RAM, imagine my frustration after that investment, when I see that any time I open illustrator THE RAM IS AT 98% when I got enough of crashes and blue screens and trying to find a solution I contact Adobe. DO YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT THEY SUGGESTED? to go online to my Adobe account, go to my privacy settings and turning off data collection! 

And there was 3 year old posts of people complaining of the same thing. Do to think that's normal? The company never ask permission to turn data collection on, and THEY KNOW IT'S CAUSING SYSTEMS TO CRASH, but they wait until you complain to tell you the solution? Is Adobe going to pay for the data they collected without my permission? Is it going to pay for all the work I lost to that problem? Is it going to pay for the RAM upgrade i didn't need? Is it going to pay for all the hours of research and trouble shutting I did? 

Because one thing I know for sure IF I DON'T PAY THIS MONTH I WON'T BE ABLE TO USE THE PROGRAM.

I'd like to see someone from the development team asking questions on these posts, it's not one or two problems!

[Anshul_Saini]

Hi @Gabriel27574810hsld,

I completely understand your frustration and truly empathize with the time and effort you’ve put into troubleshooting these issues.

I want to assure you that the product team is actively working on improving Illustrator’s stability and recovery mechanisms. In fact, a new Recovery module has been in the work at the backend, which I’ve personally tested with various complex files from the community, including files that previously failed recovery attempts. So far, this new system has been far more effective in restoring work after unexpected crashes. I highly recommend ensuring you’re always on the latest version of Illustrator.

Regarding data collection, I’d like to clarify that it is essential for identifying bugs and performance bottlenecks and understanding which actions may have triggered a crash. This data helps the team prioritize critical fixes and improve the Adobe app's overall stability. However, this data does not include your artwork or personal files—it focuses on app performance, whether the tool/ feature is working, and error patterns to help us deliver a better experience.

Your detailed feedback is incredibly valuable, and I’d be happy to pass your compiled list of crashes and observations to the product team. Insights like yours play a vital role in driving improvements, and I genuinely appreciate your persistence and dedication in highlighting these concerns.

Please let me know if you’d like further guidance or if you need anything to stabilize your workflow.

Best,

Anshul Saini

[volnoriz]

Same problem. My Adobe Illustrator regularly crashes due to some GPU problem (it's well-known problem on Intel+Nvidia systems, unfortunately, Adobe did nothing to this) and after another crash I reopen AI, it politely tell me that your documents has been recovered and then opens docs saved hours ago (from last time I save it by myself). I understand, that I should save my work manually time by time, but when you working with a few opened complex docs it's a little bit annoying, so why don't rely on the autosave feature? That's why, because it's not working for fluff sake!
Adobe Illustrator 29.4 (April update)
Specs:
Dell XPS 9500 15
Intel i7 10750H
64Gb RAM
Nvidia 1650Ti / Intel UHD Graphics
All updates and drivers are up-to-date.

[Gabriel27574810hsld]

I'm glad you said that, I'm on a Rizen 7 and read a lot about some problems, what i found is that 3 or 4 of my issues are common on Rizen processors since 2016, there even was a case of a company that updated their workstations to 64GB ram systems with Ryzen processors and were basically unable to work. I was about to spend 2.000 usd on a new i7, rtx 4070 system. But now you tell me there are also frequent problems. 

And no, saying "You should save your work often" is a lame excuse to put the blame on us, there's a reason why Microsoft word introduced "auto save" in 2003, and basically any other program followed. When you are concentrated in any kind of work you lose trak of time, you don't remember to save. So no, Adobe are the ones that are still in the stone age and don't have auto save after 22 years and the cherry on top is that their recovery fiture doesn't work. 

Thanks to your comment, instead of investing on a new computer in going to invest on a new software.

[volnoriz]

Heh, if even with RTX4070, definitely high-end graphic card, Illustrator doesn't demonstrate GPU preview stability, then I think nothing will help here., product is cursed. I still sometimes dream of the magical, unsurpassed and noble stability of the CS5 AI version. No crashes, no flaws, stable and calm workflow.