My Project disappeared!!

Report · Jul 02, 2018

My project disappeared from Premiere Pro! I have been working on the same project every night for a week. When I went to go open it up in premiere it was gone? I've looked in all my files no where to be found. The last project says opened 4 days ago but I was on premiere less then 24 hours ago.. What happened? How can I get my work back?

Report · Aug 15, 2019

Such a condecending tone Ann - totally unnecessary. Yes back ups are important - but AutoSave is also there to help isn't it? This is clearly not a normal problem - and as many people are experiencing the same thing it's unlikely to be an individual HDD issue. For me, the project file disappeared along with all the autosaves for an entire day. My internal HD is brand new. The only thing on my Mac is Adobe Creative Suite and the footage I'm working with.

Tracey, I hope you somehow manage to retrieve your work - do let us know how you get on.

Report · Aug 16, 2019

I don't mean to be condescending: just to make people aware that just relying on auto save is not enough.

Re: Editors' R.O.T. _003 — Backing Up Footage

Not only for footage but projects also.

Report · Aug 15, 2019

Also, I just noticed my photoshop is malfunctioning also... I go to click on a project in recents, and it says the file cant be found, then when I click OK it deletes it... whats that mean? Is it the cloud maybe, I mean months of no problems then all of sudden these things are just deleting stuff. (I've changed nothing about where I've always saved etc...) absolutely nothing. The premier issue Ive followed from now back to 2017 where that bug was supposedly fixed.

Report · Aug 15, 2019

It's sounding suspicious. What version are you using, I'm on 13.1.4 - It's available from the HELP/About screen.

What OS are you on, Win 10 or Mac? Please advise.

If on Windows, do you run an anti-virus other than Windows Defender.

Report · Aug 15, 2019

Yes, I have the same, and on a MAC. I pay for the monthly cloud package.

Report · Aug 15, 2019

Also, I just noticed my photoshop is malfunctioning also... I go to click on a project in recents, and it says the file cant be found, then when I click OK it deletes it... whats that mean? Is it the cloud maybe, I mean months of no problems then all of sudden these things are just deleting stuff. (I've changed nothing about where I've always saved etc...) absolutely nothing. The premier issue Ive followed from now back to 2017 where that bug was supposedly fixed.

Report · Apr 23, 2019

Update. I found the project and auto saves in a 3 day old archived folder on my backup drive. The project file and all the auto saves were indeed completely deleted from my computer hard drive. Because they were deleted from my hard drive my current backup drive also did not have any record of them. So the only way I got them back was to look in an archived folder of my back up drive from when they had existed on my computer. It’s really scary to think That this can happen! Make sure you have solid back up systems in place!

Report · May 08, 2019

Same thing just happened to me. I have already lost an hour trying to locate it. Not looking good. This isn't the first time...I don't understand why this keeps happening??

Report · May 08, 2019

Which version are you using? Number-dot-number ... what OS, etc.

And where on the computer do you save your project files?

Neil

Report · May 17, 2019

Check your backup drive. If you have an archiving system in the drive check in there. That’s where I finally found mine.

Sent from my iPhone

Report · May 19, 2019

Unfortunately, my back up files are similarly missing.

Report · May 20, 2019

You mean the back up files you made manually (preferably to another drive and not talking auto save) are gone to?

Report · May 17, 2019

The latest version of Premiere will either delete/move the currently opened project file into the auto-saves folder. I think it has to do with a new feature that they rolled out involving auto-saves. In the preferences you can go check a box labeled: "Auto save also saves current project(s)" I believe this is a new feature that has come out in the past six months. This new feature seems like it might be at the heart of the issue. Not totally sure though.

Report · May 19, 2019

This just happened to me. Working on an ongoing project for a month and all versions except the original 3/13/19 are gone, Auto-save and all. Searched proproj on entire computer and the file date auto-save gap is clear. Gone.

Any solution? Can you lengthen the 'open recent file' to go back further?

Report · May 27, 2019

I had This happen to me just 3 days ago. My premiere pro app disappeared. Here is the story. Because I could not open a PP file that was sent to me, I had to update to the latest version. I thought this was odd since the person sending me the file also had PP 2019. But I did not have the latest (same) version. However what happened was as I was updating the app to the latest version I canceled the update because I read that it could cause problems with the PP files on my computer. Presto the app disappeared. So I had to reload the update and presto the app was back on again My files were not affected.

Report · Jul 11, 2019

I just had a project disappear. Vanished. Poof, gone. Spent an hour searching. The folder is ther with all my AE graphics and footage but the .prproj files are not on my PC. I searched everything. Auto save dates are showing like the past 3 weeks I haven't shown up for work. Crazy.

Report · Aug 14, 2019

This is an absolute abomination. My entire project - has disappeared. This is my first time using Premiere for a large project being a mostly avid editor and this is exactly the kind of reason why I will continue to be an avid editor. Where is the answer Adobe? Project gone. Autosaves gone. It's an utter disgrace.

Report · Aug 14, 2019

I feel your pain bro!

--

Joe Sobalo Jr

[personal info deleted by mod]

Report · Aug 14, 2019

How long were your auto save preferences? Check that in the top right preferences.

Most likely the project is there, but it went in a different location on your comp or hard drive.

You will have to search by “last updated”.

--

Joe Sobalo Jr

[personal info deleted by mod]

Report · Aug 15, 2019

Thanks for this man... I actually found a back up copy in the end so I was saved from that desperate 'rage against the mocking universe' feeling we all dread...

Mental that Adobe would create a programme that moved your project files though - imagine if some dude sporadically came in to your house at night and put your house keys in a random draw somewhere? Every night you go to bed in fear of the potential panic in the morning...

Thanks for your help though mate.

Much appreciated.

Report · Nov 20, 2019

Hi something similar just happened to me. One specific project I was working on before switching to from MAC to PC. I had double backed up my project files for the move. This particular project was something I finished before the move but now a request has come up and need to refer back to this project. It's not in my backup files or any auto save files that I transferred to the PC. I go to my Mac to see maybe I missed saving it on my back up drive. I see NO TRACE of this project except for video preview files in the Cache folders. How could a specific project and its' auto save files just disappear while other project files I had worked on around the same time as this one are still in tact??

Is there a back end way to find what happened ? Log or task manager on the Mac?

Report · Mar 21, 2020

Ok! I found mine under Documents > Adobe > Premiere Pro > 14.0 > Adobe Premiere Pro Auto-Save.
Thank goodness.

Report · Apr 25, 2020

This helped me!! Thanks, couldn't find a file I was working on last night but that got it right back up!!

Report · Jun 17, 2020

My one single most recentl;y worked on project disappeared on me, and I searched and restarted with no luck..., I updated Premiere Pro and it appeared once again. Very interesting.

Report · Aug 18, 2020

I have completely lost a brand new project. I put about 2 hours into it. Not the most amount of time, but still, I'd rather not redo everything. Of course I have now spent almost as much time reading this very aggravating thread only to find zero help. I have done searches upon searches on all my drives. No trace. But my computer’s search function has been quirky lately, so I pressed on.

I experienced it as odd that when I specified the save-to folder upon creating the project, the project file did not show up where I put it. I couldn't find it anywhere else, either, but it was in my “recent projects” cue, and I could quit the program and restart it and still find it, so I figured it had to be somewhere! I decided that maybe it would show up after I saved it? Or closed PP? I've never encountered this with any software before, and I've been using computers for longer than I haven’t been using computers, so I had no reason to suspect the file would simply cease to exist upon closing. Ironically, the project is called, "Issues" and that is what I'm having!

Here's what has happened so far. I created the project, closed the project, couldn't find the project, went to open recent projects, it was in the cue, I did some work, exported a rough edit. closed the project, still on the cue, not findable anywhere on my entire system, ejected the external hard drive it was supposed to be on. Looked in the recent project cue. No sign of the project. Rebooted the drive. Project is no longer in the cue. Quit PP. Restarted PP. Project is nowhere to be found. It’s not in the recent files list or anywhere for that matter. There are no auto-saves of this file in the known universe from what I can tell.

I use AND PAY FOR the cloud version 13.5 b/c I still use Mojave and not Catalina. When I tried opening 14 on my mac the program locked up immediately. So, using PP as I Always have, I created a new project, imported files, made multiclips, exported movies, saved the file multiple times. Saw the auto-save kick in multiple times. Everything was basically normal. BUT...now it's just GONE!

And the woman, Ann, who works for Adobe? Sorry, I know we're supposed to be nice, but she is super condescending. Super unhelpful. Super presumptuous. Hopefully she's been reprimanded, retrained and/or fired. R Neil isn’t much nicer, but at least he attempts to offer real solutions

To the techs at Adobe, stop being defensive and consider that maybe, just maybe, if 40 experienced people have lost their projects, there could be a problem with your product!