21.0.0 Where has autorecover gone?

[robertw44482386]

21.0.0 Where has autorecover gone? MacOS Mojave. I do not have a dedicated scratch disk.

And why does it seem like Adobe movies its location with every release with little or no doucmentation of this?

[AdrianoFurlanetto · Accepted solution]

On finder, click Go and then Go to folder and paste this:

"

~/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Adobe Photoshop CC 2020/AutoRecover

"

But, if you are looking for a file... forget it, autorecover folder is always empty when we need it... 

[D Fosse]

If your computer crashes / shuts down unexpectedly, Photoshop reopens on next launch with a recovered version of the file you had open. In an orderly shutdown, the recovery file is deleted because you won't need it. You have already saved it.

Autorecovery is not a folder you can go to and retrieve your files. The recovery file is not written in such a way that it can be directly opened. So it really doesn't matter where it is, you can't do anything with it. It's crash recovery, nothing else.

BTW you do have a scratch disk, Photoshop can't even open if you don't. But if you don't specify one, the system drive will be used.

[AdrianoFurlanetto · Accepted solution]

Ok, thank you for the explanation. But, unfortunately, in the 2019 and 2020 versions, it is not working properly... 

Sometimes it works perfectly, and others, just doesn't work...

[robertw44482386]

Some time has passed but let me get around to addressing some of the inaccuracies in this reply:

> If your computer crashes / shuts down unexpectedly, Photoshop reopens on next launch with a recovered version of the file you had open

True, if it is working properly. In my case it was not and no recovery file was written, nor had any been written since upgrading to the latest version. That is why I posted. I have since solved the issue.

> Autorecovery is not a folder you can go to and retrieve your files. The recovery file is not written in such a way that it can be directly opened. So it really doesn't matter where it is, you can't do anything with it.

When working correctly, the folder exists exactly where the above user cited: ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Adobe Photoshop CC 2020/AutoRecover. It can be directly opened simply by double clicking on it.

As for it not mattering where it is, well consider this: if you locate, open, and keep open the aforemntioned folder on your screen while working, you can monitor that AutoRecovery is working properly. Which as it turns out really really matters given the unreliability of it as of late. I need to know if it is working or not.

Additonally (and I find this very helpful), when you are in a situation where Photoshop may or may not have crashed (hanging in some process, spinning beachball for more than a few minutes, etc), a quick check of the contents of this folder and most importantly the date/time modified info for the recovery file that corresponds to the file you are working on, you can make an informed decision on whether to wait it out or just force quit and start again from the recovery file. Am I losing 30 super important and insanely creatively inspired minutes? Then I'm gonna wait it out to see if the situation resolves. Am I only losing 2 minutes of work I could easily redo? Then I am force quitting right away and getting back to work without worry or delay.

>BTW you do have a scratch disk, Photoshop can't even open if you don't.

I was mistaken here. Yes Photoshop always needs a scratch disk. What I should have mentoned is that I did not have a dedicated scratch disk. When one has a dedicated scratch disk, Photoshop locates the Autorecover folder in the scratch disk rather than the location cited above. Or at least it used to.