Recovered files are life-savers, but they are temporary by nature. As soon as you open a recovered file, treat it like a fragile ancient scroll— save it to a permanent folder before you make a single edit.
Few things are more frustrating than losing hours of design work due to a software crash, power outage, or accidental shutdown. Fortunately, Adobe Illustrator includes automatic recovery features designed to save your progress.
This guide walks you through every method to open recovered files, from automatic recovery prompts to manual file diving. When Illustrator crashes and you relaunch it, Adobe Illustrator usually displays an "Automatic Recovery" dialog box automatically.
Last updated: 2025
