Photoshop Crashed During a File Save- Now What?!

This happened to me today. A file was in the process of being saved and then Photoshop disappears. So I quickly open it back up and of course, the psd I was trying to save is non-existent.

 

So now what? The .psd is no where to be found, but crap- this is 2006. We’re like on version 73 of photoshop, there must be some type of autosave or temp file or SOMETHING. I figure Google is a good first stop, here’s my search for recover photoshop .tmp file. As I scan the results I see things like: 

Unfortunately it seems to be impossible to recover a Photoshop tmp file”

“i found a photoshop recovery app that says it can recover corrupt psd files. but, alas, it cant handle the temp either”

“I have tried a number of times to recover a Photoshop temp file. It just isn’t worth the effort.”

I look at these results with mixed feelings. On one hand, it seems that photoshop does indeed save a tmp file. On the other hand, its unlikely that I can recover it. So I look in the folder where I was trying to save the file and lo and behold I see a file named ~ps1F4.tmp – I’m still a little leary but what the heck it never hurts to try, right?

Back to Photoshop, File > Open, change the file’s extension from .tmp to .psd and click Open…

Wait for it…

Wait for it…

Hooray! My file is saved! It’s a Christmas miracle!

So that’s my story. If your Photoshop crashes during a file save, I cant promise you’ll have similar results, but what the heck, it never hurts to try before you get back to work recreating the whole mess.

34 Responses to “Photoshop Crashed During a File Save- Now What?!”

  1. sitedesignmagazine.com » Advanced (sort-of) Microsoft Word .doc Recovery Says:

    [...] So thats like several hours of my life I wont get back- unless of course Microsoft Word, which, unlike other programs, does have autosaves and all those other nifty recovery functions, can help me. Long story short, Word hates me and wont give me anything. Again, this computer is screwed up. I’ve used word alot and never had a problem that couldn’t be solved with the autosaves, but here I am. No traces of the file on my harddrive (yes, I did a search) and so I’m not sure what to do. [...]

  2. Mark Lund Says:

    Use “OPEN AS…” to recover that .tmp file. It will not show up under “OPEN”

    “OPEN AS…”
    “OPEN AS…”

    It saved my project!

  3. Purple Says:

    Does not work!

  4. Natasha Says:

    pfewww!!!Thanks a lot Pedro, it saved our day in the office!

  5. kat Says:

    hi guys,

    just cried half hour and was swearing at my labtop, cause it crushed during big photoshop project. file could not be found again, though saved 2 min before crash. found ps36.tmp with 60 mb, changed .tmp to .tif, (made a copy first) and open with…photoshop…
    and i got it back!!!!! thanks God! wish all u guys good luck!!!

  6. kat Says:

    oh, just to mention, i changed to tif because it was a tif file before the crash. got my file back, but all the layers i had before (about 30) are now merged together in the background layer. but thats not to bad since i was just finished after 4 days and nights full time work and there should be no more changes necessary. well, now i can to sleep (it’s nearly 4 o’clock in the morning)!

  7. Pixellobby Says:

    my photoshop crashed during file save, but it’s not the file that i couldnt get back. It’s my photoshop! Now it wont launch at all even after re-installing! What is the problem?

  8. gareth Says:

    i couldn’t believe my luck – this worked!

    thanks

  9. Mr. B Says:

    Thank you so much for the “OPEN AS..” hint that ye share:
    I could see the file size of 275mb was still there..so I knew the Photoshop image was inside it somewhere.
    I tried re-naming the file with no luck.
    Thats when I screamed that other word that rhymes with ‘duck!’.
    I feel a poem coming on..must be relief from my sense of dispair..
    Hey! Is anyone listening?..dose anyone care!?

    Thanks again, you saved me alot!
    But can anyone help me? I just cant stop!
    Its getting worse, I’m developing a plot!
    Get it together…I…must…NOT!
    Guess thats what you get for loving Photoshop!

    Thank you, thank you, now click: Back to Top.

  10. Jon-Russell Says:

    I am pissed. After finding this site and having some hope that all wasn’t lost. I tried the renaming the extension thing. Didn’t work. “Could not complete your request because and unexpected end-of-file was encountered.” I mean. WTF? I’m going to slit my wrists now. Goodbye cruel world.

  11. Alexa Adrian Says:

    I can not believe. After I worked such a long time, when i was modifing somtehing with Blending Layers option…the computer started to give hundreds of errors…and in that time trying to save my work…My My…I saw, it was saved kust half and then it stoped. Well after restaring my computer, trying to OPEN AS the tmp file, nothing :( ((((( What shall i do? Any answer at alexa_Adrian2001@yahoo.com

  12. Photoshop User Says:

    Thanks for sharing your photoshop experience! Very useful for me.

  13. BT Says:

    My Photoshop crashes when I tried to open or save files, without showing the open/save window. The program still running, but and can’t do nothing. To close it I must go to the task manager and end the task manually.
    I re-installed the Photoshop but still not working properly. Can anyone help me?

  14. Pamela Says:

    You are my God.

  15. pedro {sdm} Says:

    Sounds like my experience helped you! I’m glad to hear it.

    ‘God’ is a pretty big word though. I’m not sure I’m willing to tread in that category :-P

  16. Jairo Says:

    I’m trying to recover a file that I lost during the last crash… In what folder can I find the .tmp file?

    Please.. It’s a very important project

  17. Yoav Says:

    This is all well but WHERE does photoshop keep its TMP files??

    In what folder??

  18. Kianoush Says:

    It didn’t save any *.tmp file.
    I pressed “Ctrl+Shift+S” to “save as” and ps crashed. Even the “Borrows” windows didn’t come up to save the file.
    What can I do? I really need it back.

  19. Aelia Says:

    You saved my digital life!!! lol… just wanted to say a huge “THANK YOU!!!”, you are my hero!

    Did you find out WHY your photoshop crashed during your save? Has it done it before? For the last two days nothing will save. I can save new documents, but when I attempt to alter and save an existing one, it freezes. I’ve had photoshop CS2 with the same settings for over a year, and suddenly it started to freeze yesterday.

    At least thanks to you I can recover what I’ve lost! :D

  20. Creating dreams for a dream » Blog Archive » Corrupted PSD file. Says:

    [...] So still desperate to find a way out returned to google.Tried a bit different key phrases and came across the best info I found.http://sitedesignmagazine.com/dailies/photoshop-crashed-during-a-file-save-now-what/844 [...]

  21. Cr8me » Blog Archive » Corrupted PSD File Says:

    [...] So still desperate to find a way out returned to google. Tried a bit different key phrases and came across the best info I found. http://sitedesignmagazine.com/dailies/photoshop-crashed-during-a-file-save-now-what/844 [...]

  22. ALEX Says:

    Like some of the people here i was doing some stuff on photoshop and during the saving process photoshop crashed and now i dont know how to find the tmp file. If i only could find it to try and see if works it’ll be great so…….

    Where da heck are the temp files? i need to know

  23. Alex Says:

    You rock. Just saved my ass on a last minute project!

  24. bliker Says:

    …temp files are in temp folder, Start>Run>%temp%

  25. sanjay Says:

    I dont have any .tmp file is there any other way to revocer corrupted .psd file

  26. Jenn Says:

    Thank you SO MUCH, SO VERY VERY MUCH for this!

    Note: I think it works only if you rename it as the same thing it was originally saved as- I was working with a .jpg and tried renaming it to a psd and tif with no luck.
    Again, THANK YOU! You saved my day!

  27. ungemeinfein Says:

    Dude THX SO MUCH!!
    I was just about to delete this stupid .tmp file after having lost my 2 days work when i read your post, i tried and it worked! Dude this is awesome, thx so much! I love you :D

  28. ykravchik Says:

    Many thanks!

  29. Tj Says:

    It didn’t work for me, I got the response:
    “could not complete your request because the file is already in use or was left open.”

  30. Ann Says:

    Nothing is working…
    Photoshop Elements 4.0 crashed and I was stupid enough to forget to save before hand.
    I look in temp files and nothing is there or has nothing to do with what was lost…
    I hate this computer… so…. much…..

  31. Ann Says:

    even when i rename possible file and try to open it, it says something like “Could not open because file is not a photoshop file”

  32. Eva Says:

    OK!
    I’m in serious trouble and i could really use the help.
    My PC was running really slow so I saved my psd file. The thing is my pc crashed and when i try to open the file again it said: Could not complete your request because of an unexpected end-of-file was encountered Photoshop.
    I tri the .tmp file thing but i dont have one…
    WHAT CAN I DO???
    I really need the file, it took me two days to do it and I dont have enought time!

    PLEASE!!!! Answer me soon. Im desperate!!!

  33. Happy Says:

    Wow, thank you so much! It worked and it was the easiest thing! Very very happy!

  34. bea Says:

    hmmm…i’ll use this when my photoshop crashes again, but this time it crashed after i saved the file and i was so happy…. but after i tried to open it again it said ‘it is not photoshop compatible’ by file is not broken..T.T
    i tried opening it in image ready and it’s all blue and the colors are wrong
    what should i do? T.T

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This entry was posted on Friday, August 25th, 2006 at 3:00 am and is filed under Software, Web Design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.