Losing hours of work to an Adobe Illustrator crash or accidental closure is a frustrating rite of passage for every designer. However, Illustrator has several built-in safety nets that often save your files in the background without you even knowing it.
File > Open Recent and look for your project name. If it appears, open and save it to a known location. Setapp +1 3. Manually Access the Auto-Recovery Folder If Illustrator didn't prompt you to recover upon relaunch, you can check the hidden folders where it stores temporary recovery data. LinkedIn Operating System Recovery Folder Path Windows C:\Users[Username]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator [Version] Settings\en_US\x64\DataRecovery macOS ~/Library/Preferences/Adobe Illustrator [Version] Settings/en_US/Adobe Illustrator Prefs Tip how to recover unsaved illustrator files
If the automatic recovery prompt doesn't appear, or if you closed a file without saving, check the hidden recovery folders manually. Losing hours of work to an Adobe Illustrator
Navigate to: C:\Users\[YourUsername]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator [Version] Settings\en_US\x64\DataRecovery . Can't find autorecovery folder for illustrator CC 2020 If it appears, open and save it to a known location
When Illustrator crashes unexpectedly, it automatically attempts to recover your files upon restart.
The DataRecovery folder is your best bet, but auto-save settings are your true safety net. Set your recovery interval to 5 minutes right now to minimize future losses.