Disappearing files??

[default1cfez86fhsqb]

I tried to open one of my projects that I had already been working on in photoshop. When I clicked on it to open it just disappeared? I can't find it anywhere and it's not in my deleted files. If I used a feature I didn't know existed please let me know. I'm new to Photoshop because I have to use it for a course. The file was my assignment and I need it back. 

[My Mind Design, Inc.]

I've used photoshop for 20 years now. It's doing this exact same thing to me now. 

I've saved on the desktop. 100% checked (because this happened to me 5 hours ago), checked again that it was saved on the desktop, triple checked... and then all of the sudden they all disappeared. Nothing in the trash bin. Only thing I can find is that it 'exists' in the recent folder when I search for the files. When I try to find that file or it's location, it no longer exists.

This is happening specifically with my illustrator and photoshop files.

[D Fosse]

There's one very obvious smoking gun in all this: all those who claim files are disappearing, are saving to the desktop.

Cloud-based desktop is now default in MacOS, and I believe also in Windows. You have to actively disable that.

[Samira261414318obp]

Wrong ... I had files saved on my hard drive and used to work with them all the time. Now, all of a sudden, they have disappeared.

[Friedemann23052999949y]

I have the same issue. Saved local on a harddrive (not on the desktop) and a week's work just disappeared.

[D Fosse]

Files don't disappear unless you save over a network connection. Then yes, they can disappear (so don't ever save over network). If you save to a local hard drive on your machine, connected by standard SATA or PCIe interfaces, files don't disappear.

I have worked professionally with Photoshop for fifteen years, 8 hours a day. I may save hundreds of times every day. I currently administer an archive of around 12 TB.

That's a lot of saves. Not once in all those years have I seen a file disappear. Not. once.

What I have done, however, is save to unintended places, so that it's not where I expected it to be. But I'm not blaming Photoshop for that.

[jdrylewicz]

I've also been using Photoshop professionally and as an educator for around 17 years. This is a first for me. I've had multiple students have their projects disappear on them. I've witnessed it firsthand. I scoured their hard drives myself to ensure they didn't accidentally save it in the wrong folder and I get nothing, not in the trash, nothing comes up when I search for it in the finder, and the file doesn't come up when I go into creative cloud to check for it or the version history.

[tenja01]

My files have disapeared too. I was editing and saved them into a folder. The folder was there i could see them, access them and then half way through the entire folder disapeared! No evidence of them in recent files, not history, no hidden files, not deleted in a bin, not on the cloud...JUST VANISHED! It happened again today after i had finished and went to access them to upload onto social media...GONE! I save on hard drives and on the desktop. The folder disapeared but thankfully the second time i saved them also in the same folder as the original raws and they stayed there. 

When saving into a new folder, the folder and containing files vanish!

Years of working with photoshop and this is the first time something like this has occured.  

[jane-e]

Hi

I just did a search for "folder and files vanish" and found a bunch of posts on Windows forums from folks who solved it by showing their hidden files. Can you try showing your hidden files to see if your vanished folders and files return (or not)?

• Win: File Explorer >  View > Show > Hidden files
  https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/view-hidden-files-and-folders-in-windows-97fbc472-c603-9...
  
  
• Mac: Select the HD in Finder > Press Cmd+Shift+Period
  https://www.macworld.com/article/671158/how-to-show-hidden-files-on-a-mac.html

None of the post mentioned Photoshop.

Other reasons were hardware corruption (check your disks) and malware (you can get a free trial).

Jane

[John lee28430342c7ft]

I encountered this problem today, I tried to save my recent work and I received a message stating that the file location is missing or deleted. 

Now I checked and tried to open my other work and it disappears. 

I look on recent files and I saw some of them but when I clicked it, I just received the same message that the file is missing or deleted. 

[jane-e]

This thread was just reactivated. Curious, I did a search with Google for "Windows files disappear".

Some common reasons included:

• Windows 10 automatic upgrade or update
• A virus deleted or hid personal files.
• You logged into a new user account.
• The hard drive is failing.
• Windows created a new user account when it updated

I saw nothing that suggested Photoshop was the cause.

Jane