/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/photoshop-files-completely-disappearing/td-p/14052287Aug 31, 2023
Aug 31, 2023
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I teach Adobe Photoshop in high school, and for the last few days, my students' files have been completely disappearing from the desktop. All of their work from the day or days before are simply gone. They can see the image of the work they created the day before in the home screen of the Photoshp interface, and it says the name in "recent files", but their files are gone and those won't open that they are seeing listed as there. They have to start completely over, and they are worried that their new work will be gone as well when they come back to class tomorrow. It started happening when I got a notification this past week that cloud synching will end. Did that do something to create this issue? I have been working in Adobe Photoshop since 1995, and have never ever had an issue like this. Please advise where their files are going. They are saving them to their local destop in a folder on their MAC computers.
I just talked to our IT guy, and he said that we have nothing in our school system that deletes files automatically, so I don't think that is the issue. Not all files disappear though, nor do folders. Just some of the files, that I saw myself the day before and helped them on. They are just gone the next day. They appear to be there in the Photoshop Home screen and in the "recents" folder, but then you click on them they say they have been "moved or deleted", or just simply won't open at all.
There is nothing in Photoshop or Adobe software that would remove files from a local HD. Do your students have to log in to the computer or are they shared with other students throughout the day?
They have to log into their computer with their personal Google info, so they cannot see another student's work who may use the same computer later, because they too have their own log-in.
I am not in that room right now where the computers are, but I know that he upgraded the MACS to the newest MAC and OS so that we could do the Adobe Certification tests seamlessly this year. We had older MACS prior to this year that couldn't be upgraded any more, so they got new ones. BUT, this issue literally just started this week. Had never ever happened before.
They have their own school log-ins with personal email, etc, so that another students cannot see their "desktop" or work, which is saved on their desktop. I will have the students start also saving their work to their Google Drive, but our IT guy just told me they will only hold 20GB, so that is something to consider when they students work on huge layered files and incorporate many elements into their designs. But I read another person's issu on the forum that said his students were saving their work to both the local desktop and their Google Drives, but the files that would disappear (or some of them) were from the desktop files?? So strange!
Not trying to pass the buck but this really does sound like something your IT enabled or manages that is affecting these files. Do the computers have enough HD free space for storage?
Where are you saving the files? Local HD or some shared storage solution?
Here is a good test to try:
Save a file locally
Log out of the computer
Log back in
Confirm file is there (or not). If the file IS there, log out and leave overnight.
Check back the next day to confirm file is there. If it is gone, that means a policy is running overnight affecting the computers/accounts/storage.
HI Kevin, I will try that today (although with the 3-day wknd I'll have to check Tuesday when we come back to school). They are saving them locally. But, as mentioned, this literally started this week. I'll do what you suggested to make sure the files are there and have the students save, log out, then log back in to check, then I'll check again when we return Tuesday. Thank you
Good Morning All. The first way is by going to File > Open Recent, where a list of your recent files will appear. You can click on any of these files to open the document, regardless of where it's saved. The second way is from the Photoshop start screen. Thank You
@Johar32253024yt1l The Home Screen is the most common reason people "lose" files. I would certainly not recommend relying on that for anything.
The Home screen is not a file browser. It's just a passive link to the location of the file when first saved. It is not a link to the file itself. If the file is moved or deleted in a proper file browser, the Home screen is not updated. The link just goes dead, and so people mistakenly think the file has "disappeared".
The recent files list in the home screen is a convenience feature. The intended use is to let you quickly pick up where you left off before lunch. It is not intended for file management.
The other reason for losing files, is working directly over a network connection. That is not supported and not recommended. Do so at your own risk.
Hello, yes, I agree with you. I tell my students to go to "File>Open", then find their file where their folder is stored. I tell them not to use the home screen or the recents. However, even when they have save it in their folder, some of them just are not there the next day. I am still trying to figure it out, and cannot completely rule out "user error" when dealing with the students, but am trying to get to the bottom of it....
In both MacOS and Windows it's possible to have the desktop in the cloud. It's even pushed by both operating systems and it can be a bit of an effort to avoid it. That's one way I can very easily see files disappearing. That's working over a network.
But saved to a folder on a local drive - no way. If that can happen at all, it would have happened to me. I use Photoshop professionally 8 hours a day and have done so for fifteen years. I may make up to a hundred saves during a busy day. I have never lost a file, not once.
What I have done, however, is to mistakenly save to an unintended location. Then I initiate a new save and see where it wants to go. And there it is.
@D Fosse - @Marjorie32002479agev is in an IT managed environment. We were trying to experiment to see if the HD were being wiped or remote managed at night to maintain shared Mac desktop environments.
I know when I taught college anything saved locally was wiped each Friday to prevent HD bloat.
/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/photoshop-files-completely-disappearing/m-p/14268739#M768138Nov 30, 2023
Nov 30, 2023
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This IS a thing! It happened to me as well. I'm running an iMac and a Cintiq, and 12 of my layered Photoshop files vanished off a ScanDisk flash drive. Poof. Exactly as happened to your students. Not an IT situation, and it is scary. My computer was in sleep mode while it happened to me.
Thank you, Kevan. My computer storage can't handle all my files. Do you suggest I save all on the cloud? I've always been fearful of that getting hacked. What backups do you suggest for safety sake?
Dont save directly to external at all - server, third-party cloud, etc. The local save can be temporary - save local then store externally. The issue is saving directly from PS - if there are any disruptions outside of the software, Adobe cannot be responsible.
I have several options for backup including cloud but I always save my files local, then transfer. When i need to work on them again I download to local and edit, then rewrite back to my storage.
For business - we use a DAM system to store then check out assets to local. This is an air-tight way to prevent issues but cost prohibitive for individuals.
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