Data Recovery

PSD Recovery: Recover Unsaved Files in Adobe Photoshop

“Hello, I accidentally closed the photoshop file without saving it on Photoshop CC 2020. How to recover unsaved Photoshop files? The files are weeks of my work. Please help!”

As a Photoshop user, have you ever met this situation before? Like many users, you may accidentally close Photoshop without saving the PSD files that you are working on or the Photoshop CC/CS crashes suddenly so you cannot find the unsaved files.

In this case, how to get deleted PSD file back? First of all, you should check AutoSave for Adobe Photoshop CS4/CS5/CS6, CC 2015/2017/2018/2020/2022. If you couldn’t recover the unsaved files via AutoSave or the PSD files are deleted, here is also a Photoshop file recovery software that helps you to recover unsaved Photoshop files after the crash as well as retrieve deleted PSD files.

Introduction to PSD and Photoshop AutoSave

PSD, standing for Photoshop Document, is the default format used in Adobe Photoshop for storing file data, allowing users to edit individual layers of an image.

2020 PSD Recovery: Easiest Way to Recover Unsaved Files in Adobe Photoshop

On Adobe Photoshop CS6 and above (Photoshop CC 2014/2015/2017/2018/2020/2022), the AutoSave feature is available, which allows Photoshop to save a backup copy of PSD files that we are working on at regular intervals. So you can easily recover unsaved files after a crash via AutoSave. However, the feature is not available on Adobe Photoshop CS5/CS4/CS3 or earlier.

How to Recover Deleted PSD Files on PC?

Recover Unsaved/Deleted Photoshop Files with Data Recovery

When no backup is available, data recovery software can be the easiest way to recover deleted PSD files. Data Recovery, a desktop data recovery solution for Windows 11/10/8/7/Vista/XP, supports recovering deleted PSD files on a PC with ease. Additionally, this software is also capable of recovering and retrieving lost PSD files from external hard drives like USB flash drives, Memory cards, SD cards,s and so forth.

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Fortunately, deleted PSD files are able to be recovered because they are just hidden by the file system after the deletion. As long as they are not covered by new data, it is possible to retrieve them. But you should try to use the computer as little as possible in case the deleted photoshop files are overwritten by new data.

NOTE:

  • Download Data Recovery on a drive that differs from the drive that saved PSD files. For example, if a PSD file is deleted from the D drive, download the data recovery software on a different drive such as an E drive to avoid unwanted data loss.
  • If lost PSD files are from an external hard drive, please plug the external drive into the computer via a USB port so that the software can detect it.

Step 1. Launch Data Recovery. Choose “Image” as the needed file type and select the location where you deleted the PSD file. And then, click “Scan” to start quickly scanning the target drive.

data recovery

Step 2. There are two modes provided for users, “Quick Scan” and “Deep Scan”. When the drive is scanned out, you can preview PSD files in the Image folder. If you can’t find the PSD file you need, you can keep on trying “Deep Scan” mode.

scanning the lost data

Step 3. After the deeper scanning, locate the deleted or unsaved Photoshop file in Image > PSD and tick its checkbox on the File List. Then, click on the “Recover” button to finish the recovery process.

recover the lost files

It’s quite easy to recover deleted PSD files on a PC with Data Recovery, right? When accidental deletion happens, why not download the free trial version and have a try?

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Use Adobe Photoshop AutoSave

AutoSave is enabled on Photoshop by default. When Photoshop crashes suddenly, don’t worry. Just re-launch Photoshop and the autosave version of your unsaved work should appear automatically. If you couldn’t see the unsaved PSD files, first you should make sure that AutoSave is enabled on your Photoshop CS6 or CC.

  • Go to File>Preferences>File Handling > File Saving Options and make sure “Automatically Save Recovery Information Every” is enabled.

2020 PSD Recovery: Easiest Way to Recover Unsaved Files in Adobe Photoshop

If the AutoSave option is enabled but you cannot see the autosaved PSD files, you may search for the unsaved PSD files on AutoRecover.

  • Photoshop AutoSave Location on PC: C:UsersYourUserNameAppDataRoamingAdobeAdobe Photoshop CC 2017AutoRecover (the specific path is slightly on different versions of Photoshop)
  • Photoshop AutoSave Location on Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Adobe Photoshop CC 2017/AutoRecover (the specific path is slightly on different versions of Photoshop)

2020 PSD Recovery: Easiest Way to Recover Unsaved Files in Adobe Photoshop

How to Recover PSD Files from .temp Files

If photoshop closed without saving or corrupted due to uncertain reasons, how to find previous photoshop files? It is suggested to restore from temp files.

  • Open “My Computer” and move to your hard drive.
  • Choose “Documents and Settings”.
  • Locate the folder labeled with your username for “Local Settings > Temp“.
  • Find the files beginning with the “Photoshop” name and open them in Photoshop app.
  • Once you get what you want, save it in .psd format.

Or you can try to input the path: C:Users(your user name)AppDataLocalTemp to locate the temp files directly.

2020 PSD Recovery: Easiest Way to Recover Unsaved Files in Adobe Photoshop

Thus, you can now use the .psd files to continue your perfect design.

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