P: Saved my .PSD file, but upon opening all my layers are GONE

[Larty]

So I was working on something pretty important for school. I saved it as a PDF once so I could print it and turned the check mark off at the "keep photoshop ability" thing in the PDF dialog box (So not in the save as box, but the dialog box you get after you choose .PDF and say save) cause it was going to be used for simple print, then I re-saved my photoshop file that I had open as a .PSD file since I noticed it had changed the file name to that of the .PDF, I even checked if it still had the layers, and it still had them.

I close the program, I return to it an hour later and all my layers are gone. They all merged together as one background layer. When I had last saved it the layers were still there, yet now there aren't. I tried going to the properties of the PSD file, to see if there were previous versions, but there was nothing. I tried looking in the Autorecovery, but yet again NOTHING.

I dont know what I did wrong, since the layers were still there when I had SAVED my PSD file... This was a very important file with schoolwork and everything that I had in hidden groups and layers are gone.

I dont know if anybody else has had this problem and if this can be fixed....

[defaultjlny7mc4tbdf]

Yep.... if anyone is keeping score, g'head & add me to the list of "lost several hours of work".  I'm in Ps 22.4.3, and until just last week(ish), I've been able to do my work, save as a PDF for the RIP software to my printer, and also save it as a PSD in case I need to do any edits later.  For the past year+, this is exactly how I've done every file I've created.  It may seem wasteful of space to some... but I've got an 8TB external "home cloud", so I just do what makes it easiest for me.  After DAYS of work, I finally reached a point of completion to print, so I saved the PDF file to send to the printer, then came back and saved the whole canvas/file as a PSD for future editing.  After printing, it dawned on me I needed to change the color of an entire section, so I pulled up the Open Recent & selected my PSD file.... IT'S ALL MERGED TOGETHER AS ONE LAYER!!  Who on God's green earth thought this would be a good idea???  I mean, in what scenario would one actually want or need a single layer PSD file, anyway??  It makes absolutely zero sense... especially when I saved them exactly the way I've been saving everything for 18 months.  

Apparently Adobe has no intention of changing this "feature" considering it's been going on since at least 2017... and here it's September of 2021, and it would appear we still have this lovely "feature".  

Absolutely absurd.  

[jane-e]

— Misinformation deleted —

Thank you , @davescm for the updated info

~ Jane

[davescm]

It is still an issue in 22.5.1 Jane - in fact it is slightly worse

PDF appears in Save As and if you uncheck "Preserve Photoshop Editing Capabilities" in the PDF dialogue and Save as PDF, and  then go on to Save As PSD, there is not even an option to check the layers checkbox. On Save As PSD your layers are gone

Dave

[davescm]

Your info was correct Jane as IIRC  PDF was moved to Save A Copy. But unfortunately it was moved back when the legacy Save options were added, even if they are unchecked. A backward step in my view.

Dave

[yuvalggg]

That's crazy! 

Why is it designed this way? I can't see the benefit.

Obviously I want to only export the page as seen as a pdf. Why does it have anything to do with the psd file? 

[Hjhaverkamp]

It is the year 2021 and this just happened to me. Photoshop for the love of God please fix this. I just lost an entire final project. Thank god I have an extension, but this is absolutely ridiculous. I had two slides left to create. Now I'm sitting here sobbing at my computer because I have to start over completely, and the update has made the text feature completely nonfunctional as well. 

[ROB5CC9]

Just had the same issue, this is madness!! makes no sense... 

[AssuradeurenGilde b.v.]

We are now 5 years later. But apparently there is no simple popup possible yet? Pay attention! your file is in 1 layer. Bad idea for this option! Especially if you don't know! How frustrating is this!

[Mr Teee]

This bug needs fixed! Who in their right mind would want to flatten their image and lose everything through this default. WORKFLOW... Create master file. Save it for editing in the future. Save a High-quality Print file as PDF separately. Send to client print outlet. Get paid. End of story. I can't be the only guy using this software for 20plus years that hates this default . Please please fix. I have been careful for years but in a rush and blurry eyed from working for 12 hours forgot the stupid tick. Now I have lost a huge client file. Will take hours and hours to recreate. Really ? this should not be some silly forced default that you need to double check. Hungry artist not an engineer. Simple fix.

[andre kruger]

Photoshop 2022 does not giver the layers options when saving to psd if you saved to pdf in beween

[nikunj.m]

Hi all,

We're happy to announce the April 2022 release of Photoshop 23.3. This update includes the fix for this issue.

To update Photoshop to 23.3, click "Update" in the Creative Cloud desktop app next to Photoshop. More detailed instructions for updating

Let us know if the update resolves the problem for those affected and share your feedback with us.

Thanks,

Nikunj

[Denise254216811cy8]

I have 24.1.0 update and it still looses my layers so your update didn't work. Tell me what I am missing so frustrating!!!!! 

[Kip274472016eqq]

I am using Photoshop 2023 24.7.0 release and it just happened to me. That this extremely serious issue has been going on since 2017 and still has not been corrected is criminal!!!!!