Lost files on old computer.

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Hello, I was working on my computer and it broke down during last year quarantine. I decided to buy a new one afterwards and when I downloaded the cloud and logged in indesign none of my work was there. I can't have access to my old laptop anymore, my work was saved on the indesign app platform not on my laptop itself.

So even if I transfer my old files laptop to laptop I would not find my indesign one.

How can I have access to my work left on indesign? It seems like everything is new even if I logged on the same account, not the same laptop. Thank you!

[Dov Isaacs]

Exactly what do you mean by your “work was saved on the indesign app platform?”

Did you explicitly save the InDesign documents to the Adobe Creative Cloud? In other words, when you save the InDesign document, do you choose Creative Cloud Files as your destination (typically chosen in the left hand pane of your save as dialog) or do you simply let it use whatever the default directory is, typically Documents or My Documents on Windows.

If you don't select Creative Cloud Files and optionally any subdirectory of same, in fact your InDesign documents are being stored on your laptop computer, not in the Adobe Creative Cloud. And if that's the case, if you no longer have access to your old laptop computer, you are hosed. If you did save the InDesign files (and all the accompanying assets) in the Creative Cloud Files directory, all the content should have been synchronized with the Adobe Creative Cloud. Note however, if you or someone else deleted the files in Creative Cloud Files directory as seen on your computer, such deletion will synchronize with the cloud-based servers and delete the files there as well!

Note that regardless of whether you store your digital assets (including InDesign documents) on your laptop or a directory that synchronizes with the Adobe Creative Cloud (via the Creative Cloud Files directory), best professional practice is to regularly backup your files on a an external drive.

[BobLevine]

In addition to Dov's response, if you have a Onedrive or Dropbox account, be sure that you've installed the proper apps and perhaps you were saving files there.

But...as Dov said, backups are essential!