How to Recover a File After an Illustrator Crash

"I'm using Illustrator CC and I have an issue. Here's my problem: While working on Illustrator CC, the program crashed. How and where can I recover my Illustrator file? Also, where should I set the auto-save option to prevent losing files in the future?"

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Crashes in Adobe Illustrator

While using Illustrator, crashes can occur occasionally. This is largely attributed to its auto-save feature. You might wonder, why? When the recovery data feature is enabled, Illustrator can pause while backing up large or complex files. If the backup process goes wrong, it can lead to Illustrator becoming unresponsive, freezing, and ultimately crashing. Apart from the auto-save function, there are several other reasons that could cause the software to crash, such as outdated software, compatibility issues, third-party plugins, and software bugs.

When software crashes, the Illustrator (AI) file you were editing seems to be lost. Most of the time, creating a vector design, 3D rendering, or perspective drawing in Illustrator takes a long time. Nobody can afford to lose unsaved work. Before we teach you how to recover your Illustrator files, we'll show you how to turn on the auto-save feature in Illustrator. If you already have it enabled, skip ahead to learn how to restore your files from a backup. If you don't have it turned on, follow these steps to prevent any further data loss.

Enable Auto Save in Illustrator to prevent data loss in case of a crash

Though it can sometimes cause Illustrator to crash, enabling Auto-Save is still a good idea. With Auto-Save on, you can recover an unsaved Illustrator file from a backup if the program crashes, your computer shuts down unexpectedly, or you accidentally close Illustrator without saving.

Steps to enable auto-save in Illustrator:

Step 1: Click on "Preferences" > "File Handling & Clipboard" > "Recovery."

Step 2: Check the box next to "Automatically save recovery information every" to enable data recovery.

Step 3: Set it to auto-save “every xx minutes.” (Choose an interval that suits you; too short and it'll be distracting, too long and you risk losing more work.)

Step 4: Click Choose to specify where Illustrator should save the backup file.

Step 5: Select the Disable data recovery for complex documents option to prevent workflow interruptions and crashes in Illustrator.

Method 1: Recover an Illustrator File from a Backup

Sometimes, when you restart the program after a crash, the file you were working on shows as “Recovered.” If you see a recovered file, save it with a new name and continue working. However, this doesn't always work. You can try to recover a lost file from a backup or use Adobe's file recovery software. Hopefully, one of these methods will salvage your Illustrator work.

If you have Auto Save turned on in Illustrator, Method 1 will be perfect for you. By default, Illustrator saves backup files to:

C:/Users/Username/AppData/Roaming/Adobe/Adobe Illustrator Settings/en_US*/x64/Adobe Illustrator Prefs; (Please note that "Username" should be replaced with the actual user account name.)

Recover a file from an AutoSave backup file

Step 1: Go to the location where you saved your backup file, whether it's the default folder or a folder you specified.

Step 2: Find all files that contain “recovery” in their name or gibberish code. Select the files you want to recover and rename them.

Step 3: Double-click the file to open it in Illustrator.

Step 4: Click on the "File" menu and select "Save As." Type in a new name for your file in the "Name" field, choose a folder to save it to, then click the "Save" button.

Note that you can recover only previous versions of a lost Illustrator file. If the application crashes between recovery intervals, the file might not be recoverable.

Method 2: Recover an Illustrator File with the Data Recovery Wizard Tool

If you lost your files after a crash and don't have backups, you can try using a data recovery tool – Data Recovery Wizard – to restore your lost AI files. If you lost your Illustrator files or can't find the backups (as they might be hidden, lost, or deleted) while trying Method 1, a file recovery utility can quickly locate them in three steps.

Step 1: Launch the file recovery software on your Windows computer. Select the exact location where you lost your files and click on the "Scan" button.

Step 2: The software will immediately start scanning the drive and display the list of deleted files in a short while. If you find the required file during the scan, you can stop the scanning process. To quickly locate the target file, use the 'File Type Filter.'

Step 3: Choose the files you want to recover, such as Word, Excel, PDF, photos, videos, or emails, and click the "Restore" button. You can browse and select a different location to save your recovered files.

Bottom line

Software crashes or other data-loss scenarios are almost inevitable during use. To minimize the chances of losing work on a file you're actively editing, it's recommended that you enable the Auto-Save feature in Illustrator.