Not loading old history

[White Rose Frank]

When I was on PS2024 with windows 10 and I reloaded an old file the history and layers also loaded so I could modify the file. Since I've gone on to 2025 on windows 11 all I get is a snapshot. How to I get 2025 to load history?

[D Fosse]

The history has always been deleted when you close Photoshop, in all versions. Nothing has ever changed there.

History takes up a huge amount of disk space! Every history state potentially adds the full uncompressed file size. This is what the scratch disk is used for as long as the application is running. But there's no practical way to save that with the file, It would blow up file sizes 20-50x, and you can imagine what people would think of that....

Lightroom Classic saves history - but in a parametric editor like Lightroom it's just text instructions which  don't take up much space.

[Conrad_C]

When I was on PS2024 with windows 10 and I reloaded an old file the history and layers also loaded so I could modify the file.

By @White Rose Frank

History, no. History has never been saved between sessions by Photoshop. There is an option to save a history log, but that can’t be applied to a document, it’s just a text list of what happened.

Layers, yes. If a Photoshop document was saved with layers, the layers will be there next time the file is opened.

If it’s a Photoshop Cloud Document, then actually there is a way. The Version History panel will retain its versions list between sessions. But if you’re talking about a file stored on your computer, then it wasn’t a cloud document and Version History doesn’t apply. Version History is not as detailed as the History panel; it’s more like persistent snapshots.

[c.pfaffenbichler]

As @Conrad_C and @D Fosse already explained your description seems counterfactual.

Could you post screenshots to clarify?

What file formats are you using and how are you saving the layered files?