Photoshop says "cannot upon because file is not a valid photoshop file" but it is. What do I do?

[Elliot257333584xie]

Yesterday my computer turned off suddenly, so I started working on the recovered file and moved on. Then I saved the recovered file as was (previous name-Recovered.psd). Now I'm trying to open it again to continue and suddenly photoshop is claiming it's not a psd file. Why wouldn't it be? I'm so confused, I don't want to lose all my work from yesterday so please help.

[mglush]

Hi! We are sorry to hear that you are having this issue. What version of Photoshop are you using? 

Michelle

[Elliot257333584xie]

21.2

[mglush]

Thanks for the info! Here is a help doc with info for this error: https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/error-not-a-valid-photoshop-document.html

Here are a couple of options:

1. Duplicate the file and save it as a different name with the .psd extension and see if you can open it. Make sure it has the .psd file extension.

2. Do you have Illustrator? One thing we can do is test and see if you can open it in Illustrator or if you get the same message.

Michelle

[Elliot257333584xie]

yes it's a psd file, there is no reason it would be anything else. I'll try the illustrator thing

[Elliot257333584xie]

sorry I misread this, I'll try both solutions

[Elliot257333584xie]

the first thing didn't work. It does open on Illustrator but appears as a black white page

[mglush]

When you say Black White page--you don't see your image, correct?

I was looking up some solutions for you and found this web site on other software that can open Photoshop files. I am not sure if this is helpful or not, but it might be a good resource: https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/the-best-ways-to-open-a-psd-file-without-photoshop/

Do you have any software that allows you to do a quick look, or open it just to see the file? And, was the help doc any help?

If it is a corrupted Photoshop file, I also found this website: https://4ddig.tenorshare.com/windows-recovery-solutions/how-to-fix-corrupted-photoshop-file.html

I have not tried this method, I am only offering it as a suggestion and this is not an endorsement of it, but it is a free download and available on windows.

I will keep looking for options!

Michelle

[Abambo]

It's probably crashed. Does Bridge generate a preview?

[mglush]

Bridge is a great suggestion!

[Elliot257333584xie]

what is Bridge?

[mglush]

If you have the Creative Cloud or the Photography plan you should have access to Bridge which is a type of file browser. If you install it, you can then, inside of Bridge, navigate to your image to see if you can open it from there. 

[Elliot257333584xie]

I don't know any thing about bridge so I don't know how to make it "generate a preview". When I clicked on it bridge, it gave all this basic info about the file, and an option to open it. I did, and it jsut sent me to photoshop and gave met the same error message

[mglush]

Did you take a look at the Recovery website information I sent? What are your thoughts on that?

[Elliot257333584xie]

oops I meant blank* white page, also sorry, I just saw that message so maybe there's a lag on the forum

[Elliot257333584xie]

opening it on gimp and google drive was a dead end (same errors more or less). The second link is free to download but it's a paid service to actually recover anything. I tried to get it to give me a preview of the file but it wouldn't do that

[mglush]

I just wanted to check back with you to see if you had any success in recovering your file? 

Michelle

[Abambo]

quote: what is Bridge?

https://www.adobe.com/products/bridge.html

Bridge reads Adobe file formats and displays a preview. So in your case that may be a test, to see, if it generates the preview. My guess is that the file is crashed and not recoverable, but you should try what you can try.