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My Ai file is completely went missing that was supposed to be saved in my external hard drive. HELPPP!!!

New Here ,
Feb 11, 2017 Feb 11, 2017

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I was working on a project using Ai on my macbook and I have to leave the house for a while. When I came back from my errands and try to go back and work on it Ai has automatically shut down. When I tried to reopen it, it shows that it is on the recently open files but when I tried clicking it an error dialogue box keep showing saying they can't find the file. When I check my hard drive the file is completely gone and nowhere to find. What should I do, I really need to recover the files. Help!

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LEGEND ,
Feb 11, 2017 Feb 11, 2017

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Bad news: There's nothing there. Simply start over.

Mylenium

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Community Expert ,
Feb 11, 2017 Feb 11, 2017

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Had you saved the file before you left the house? If so, please do check the save location. OR, you can do a full search (not a Spotlight search) - so command+F from the Finder. Look for files with .ai - this'll start the machine searching so be patient if you have a lot of .ai files, then hit the little plus sign on the top right of the search window (under the line where you entered the .ai) and change "Kind" to "Created" and enter today's date.

If it's not there, you never saved, and unfortunately what @Mylenium says is true. And it's a hard-learned lesson to always SAVE.


Adobe Community Expert / Adobe Certified Instructor

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Community Expert ,
Feb 11, 2017 Feb 11, 2017

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This won't help you recover your file from your external disk, but you might want to run Disk Utility > First Aid on it to see if it's okay.

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New Here ,
Jan 29, 2020 Jan 29, 2020

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The Same thing happened to me last night. My File was saved 3 days ago but I had it open I went to bed and when I woke up my pc had rebooted and it had completely vanished. Now everyone is playing the name game Adobe says it's Windows, Windows says its HP. Hp say its not us but we might be able to help you... for a fee CAN SOMEONE PLEASE HELP

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New Here ,
Dec 12, 2020 Dec 12, 2020

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This just happened to me...were you able to find your file??

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LEGEND ,
Dec 12, 2020 Dec 12, 2020

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For future reference, you need to help yourself by taking backups, many backups, as you work. Things will always go missing, for some reason or other, backups stop it being a disaster.

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New Here ,
Feb 03, 2022 Feb 03, 2022

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Same Here happened To me Yesterday i am working in my office and saved the Ai file and send the pdf to my manager the shut down my mac properly and then next day I open my mac  there is no Ai file in my mac and other Folders Ai Files Are Missing too ... What should i do now 

#adobe >>>>??????? 

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New Here ,
Sep 20, 2023 Sep 20, 2023

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Same, mine is saved but on second start up the file missing itself

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Community Expert ,
Sep 21, 2023 Sep 21, 2023

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So when you search for the name of the file, it's gone? Where did you save it?

 

Is "Save in background" on or off in the preferences? It should be off.

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