Autosave - Where are my files?

[Nicholas385057067j2x]

When I have several files open in PS I have the bad habit of closing the wrong file and wasting hours of work. I have autosave on every 10 minutes and back up "to computer" but where are these autosaved files. For instance today I opened a file at 9:50 and then wrongly closed it at 11:40 but I can't file any autosaved files after 9:50 so have wasted nearly 2 hours.

[Ged_Traynor]

@Nicholas385057067j2x autosave doesn't work like that, it only works on a System/Photoshop crash

The default location is C:/Users/Username/AppData/Roaming/Adobe Photoshop 2024/AutoRecover, that's providing you have the scratch disk set to the C drive

[Nicholas385057067j2x]

Thanks for your reply, I thought so. Perhaps I am the only one who regularly closes the wrong file (at least 2 or 3 times a year!). 

[Stephen Marsh]

@Nicholas385057067j2x 

You should be able to use File > Open Recent or the Recents on the Home screen.

A script could automatically write the path and filename location of all opened docs to a text file log.

[Nicholas385057067j2x]

Just to explain better. I make this mistake when doing collages. I have 4 or 5 archived images open + the collage image that I am working on. I obviously want to save any changes made to the collage but don't want to save the changes to the archive images so I don't save any changes when I close the archived images and sometimes by mistake don't save the changes made in the collage (after a lot of work)! There is no autosaved image unfortuantely even in recent files.

[D Fosse]

I get the problem, and I agree that active and background documents could be better visually separated. It is easy to make that mistake, I've done it myself (so I always pay attention to this).

But as Ged explained, there is no auto-save. What there is, is auto-recovery after a crash. When you close the file, the auto recovery folder is emptied. There is nothing there, and there's no point in looking for that folder.

You just have to pay attention to which document you're closing. Save your master document frequently, so you don't need to go too far back.

[jane-e]

@Nicholas385057067j2x 

Back in the days when there was one Undo (sometimes) and no History panel, we got in the habit of saving every time we did something right, and reverting to the saved version when we did something wrong. Saving often is still a good habit, as you will never lose "hours" of work. Doing a Save followed by Save As with a new name (such as adding the version number) is another way to protect yourself from loss.

Jane

[Stephen Marsh]

@Nicholas385057067j2x 

Doing a Save followed by Save As with a new name (such as adding the version number) is another way to protect yourself from loss.

Jane

By @jane-e

Agreed. There are Photoshop scripts to save and or save as/save a copy with an incremental or date/time stamped version name. There is also an Adobe Bridge script that can be used to either pop up a reminder in Photoshop to save every 10 minutes or so or to even auto-save.

[Stephen Marsh]

There is no autosaved image unfortuantely even in recent files.

By @Nicholas385057067j2x

No, auto-recovery (not auto-save) will only kick in after restarting Photoshop after it has crashed.

I was simply noting that recent files can be used to quickly open the incorrectly closed file, accepting that you have lost any unsaved work by mistakenly closing without saving.