Inspiring

Answered

Missing layers upon reopening a saved psd file

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
June 8, 2019
5 replies
5062 views

Newbie question:

Retouched an image in PS yesterday; collapsed all layers (except background layer); and saved image as a PSD file.

This morning, I opened image in PS. All retouching from previous day was preserved. Good! However, image is now represented by only a background layer; i.e., layers on which retouching was done are no longer present or accessible.

Is there any way to resurrect the individual, retouched, missing layers?

Where did I go wrong?

This topic has been closed for replies.

Correct answer Bojan Živković11378569

collapsed all layers

What method you are using to collapse all layers? If you have merged multiple layers to a single layer then there is no way to recover layers after saving and reopening file. If you want to keep edits on separate layers then layers must be present in the Layers panel, that is where you get wrong. For non-destructive editing you need to keep layers not to merge them.

pankaj .g78201921

New Participant

I saved a psd file yesterday. But today when I try to open, it shows only one single background layer. But psd file size remains same size.

N

Nena 12

New Participant

This exact thing happened to me today...thats why I am here for an answer 😞 .

Last time I did I use the file, everything was with layers, I didnt do any flattening or anything...saved the file to continue working today...when I open today it shows as Background with lock and all layers gone... 😕😕 ANY TIPS??

B

BH888Author

Inspiring

Thank you all for responding to my inquiry.

As you all have suggested, I lost the layers because I flattened the layers before saving. Not really sure of the reason why flattening the layers was called for at that point in the retouching sequence, - other than I was blindly following a step-by-step, PS tutorial on You Tube, and flattening was one of the steps.

I am submitting another related question in the forum, if you care to respond.

Learning Photoshop is such an overwhelming task. I am truly grateful for your help with these elementary questions.

jane-e

Community Expert

BH888@aol.com wrote
Not really sure of the reason why flattening the layers was called for at that point in the retouching sequence, - other than I was blindly following a step-by-step, PS tutorial on You Tube, and flattening was one of the steps.

Next time if a tutorial says to flatten the layers, save your current file, then make a copy and flatten the copy. If you learned this on a Youtube tutorial, you will never make the same mistake on a real file.

Bojan Živković11378569

Correct answer

Community Expert

collapsed all layers

What method you are using to collapse all layers? If you have merged multiple layers to a single layer then there is no way to recover layers after saving and reopening file. If you want to keep edits on separate layers then layers must be present in the Layers panel, that is where you get wrong. For non-destructive editing you need to keep layers not to merge them.

marliton

Community Expert

Hi. There is not a way to recover layers from a flattening file.

Marlon Ceballos

jane-e

Community Expert

Hi

Are you saying that you merged all layers except the background, leaving two layers, and now you have only one background layer?

If so, then no, you can’t retrieve layers from one background layer.

Jane

Sign up

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Sign in to Adobe Community

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Scanning file for viruses.

This file cannot be downloaded