Indesign deleting files off my computer

[nmegraphics]

Can someone tell me why this is happening? I spent about two hours building and designing files in indesign. I saved all files and quit out and restarted my mac over the wekend. When I started up today it said indesign was not working and launched it anyway so I quit and restarted again. Well somewhere along the way all repeat.... all..... my files were removed from my machine. Why does indesign delete all your work after you save it and quit out. I even backed up and the backup was gone. I'm soooooo angry. Why not frickin tech support? I can't find anyone at Adobe to help me figure this out. 

[BobLevine · Accepted solution]

InDesign cannot delete your files. Sounds like something quite seriously wrong with your system.

[John Mensinger · Accepted solution]

Why does indesign delete all your work after you save it and quit out.

It doesn't. It can't.

I even backed up and the backup was gone.

It's not really clear exactly what you mean by this, but by definition a backup is stored somewhere other than the computer's drive, so surely InDesign can't be responsible. Frankly it sounds as though you may be mistaken about the save location of the files you can't find, or some other file handling mishap has occurred. InDesign just sits there until you make it move; it only writes files and cannot delete them. File deletion is an OS-level operation.

[nmegraphics]

It's like all my work never happened. Gone. I assure you I didn't misplace my files. I even copied to an external hard drive and they are gone. When I launched Indesign it gave me a message saying something about how it couldnt rebuild my files and I said ok and poof indesign deleted them. I dont recall exactly the message but INDD is for sure repsonsible for this crap. 

[BobLevine]

I'll say it again...InDesign cannot delete all of your files. There is something seriously wrong with your system.

[nmegraphics]

Yeah my system apparently isnt compatible with Adobe anymore? Why would indesign send me an error message then delete my files if it's my system? I think it's both working against each other? You think either mac or adobe would figure out why they can't run together?

[jmlevy]

InDesign NEVER sends messages telling that it has (or will) deleted files. However, when it crashes, it tries to open the file you were working on and if it can't do it, a warning message appears telling that it was not able to recover it. But if you know where you saved your file, you should be able to find it.

[nmegraphics]

Thats what I'm trying to say.... its gone. I know where I saved it and it's gone! Several files that I had open in Indesign. I quit out and restarted and gone. Everything from the last open session. It gives me the "can't recover" message along with some other message I dont remember. Something about indesign being damaged and I should run some thing to fix it so I say fix and poof...files gone.  How do I reinstall a cloud program? Would that fix it?

[jmlevy]

Let's try to be pragmatic…

1. did InDesign crash?
2. which version of InDesign do yo use?
3. and what is your OS? I understand you are on a Mac.
4. did you try to open the file from the folder where you saved it? 

[nmegraphics]

I should mention this has happened with photoshop as well. As far as I can tell my adobe programs are up to date  I'm running OS 11.3.1 Big Sur. My imac is only 4 years old.  I go to my finder and find the folder and the file is gone. Sometimes it has reverted back to a saved version from hours before. I save often like, very often, since this problem has started. Its been going on for weeks now.  I started dropping files in a backup drive. Today that indd file was missing from the backup drive as well. 

1. Sometimes the program crashes and other times it doesnt at all. I try and restart often to prevent crashes. Seems to be a problem having PS, IL and INDD open at once. I started my machine up and it says it restarted because of a problem ( which is didn't. Seems to be the go-to start up screen these days) So I say ok to recover files. I tried cancel once and it deleted items too. Same thing basically so it doesnt matter what choice I select from start up)

2. Indesign 2021.

3. 13.3.1 

4. It's not in the folder where I saved it. Thats the problem. Could it have moved it? To a recover folder? 

[jmlevy]

I don't know what happened but one thing is sure: it is absolutely impossible that any software deletes files…

It's not in the folder where I saved it. Thats the problem.

Either you saved it in another folder, either you did not save it

Could it have moved it? To a recover folder?

No. A file is moved only if you do it.

Did you try to search for it with Cmd F, on the Finder?

[nmegraphics]

Well I guess a little elf stole it then.  I know I saved it and I know it's not where I saved it. This happens a lot so...Adobe or my computer is to blame but it's not user error. So in fact the computer or software has indeed deleted my work. I certianly didnt spend two hours in photoshop to have my work lost.

[Barb Binder]

How do I reinstall a cloud program?

You can uninstall/reinstall using the Creative Cloud desktop app. 

Would that fix it?

It's unclear what exactly is going on, so we don't know yet. InDesign really doesn't delete files. Let us know which OS and which InDesign version. Did the OS have a recent update? (Apple has issued a few updates recently.)

~Barb

[nmegraphics]

I keep hoping an OS update or a Adobe update would fix this but it has not. It's incredibly frustrating to lose hours of work. Poof gone!

[Dov Isaacs · Accepted solution]

@nmegraphics,

On behalf of Adobe …

It is absolutely horrible when you have a situation in which files are inexplicably gone from your computer. That is exactly why all computer professionals continually advise computer users to backup their systems and especially data files early and often. If you are working on a particular project in any Adobe application, it is prudent to “save a copy” of whatever you are working on often while you are working (perhaps every hour or so, possibly even more frequently if making major changes) and preferably to a different folder/directory.

Your backups should be to a separate disk drive that is only connected while doing the backup, otherwise stored away from you computer (so-called “ransomware” for example will encrypt backups that are either on the computer's hard drive or a on an external drive connected to the infected system). When it comes to preserving your data, being paranoid is really good!

As other very knowledgeable and respected community members have told you in their responses, there is absolutely no function in any Adobe application that deletes user data files. The fact that you are claiming issues with Photoshop as well further validates these responses. There is no “OS update or Adobe update” that is going to resolve your lost file problem. Why are your files disappearing? All we can do is guess. Maybe one or more components of your system's hardware has become unstable (memory, disk, etc.). Maybe there is a virus on your system. You should have a reliable professional totally checkout your system. But given all the weird symptoms you describe, once the system is totally checked out and any problems fixed, it may be prudent to fully reformat your system disk and restore it from a known, reliable backup. If you only backup your data files, you may need to reload the operating system and applications from scratch and then bring back the data files from the backup.

I know that this is all very time consuming and aggrevating. Everyone here sympathizes with your plight, but again this is not an issue of Adobe software. Hoping that you can quickly and successfully get your system checked out, fully reloaded with operating system and applications, and restore your data files from your backups.

At this point, I think that this thread has run its course.