2024 Tips| How to Recover Unsaved Photoshop (PSD) Files on Mac

Applies to: Adobe Photoshop 2022/2020, Photoshop CC 2013-2019, Photoshop CS 2~6, and older Photoshop versions

This page's solutions are meant to recover unsaved Photoshop files on macOS, and Windows Photoshop temp file recovery is on the linked page.

Can You Recover Unsaved Photoshop Files on Mac?

Accidentally closed Photoshop CC without saving the project, or full Photoshop scratch disk crashed Photoshop unexpectedly? Many occasions would lead to a total Photoshop file loss, and the most commonly seen factors are related to human error, application crashing, macOS halting, or freezing. Can you recover unsaved files in Photoshop on Mac? Here, you'll learn a complete guide to recovering photoshop file on Mac that is unsaved, deleted, or corrupted with a pretty high success rate. You can directly jump to the part you're most interested in.

How to Recover Photoshop Files on Mac [4 Solutions]

The upcoming Photoshop file recovery solutions will assist you in retrieving accidentally closed Photoshop files without saving them from Adobe Photoshop autosave location, Photoshop temp files, previous versions, and Mac Time Machine Backup. What's more, for the Photoshop files that were deleted, formatted, or virus damaged, you should feel no hesitation to retrieve lost PSD files with EaseUS Mac file recovery software. Read on and find solutions that suit you the most to recover unsaved or lost Photoshop files on Mac. 

Solution 1. Recover Unsaved Photoshop Files on Mac from Autosave Location

If you've enabled the Autosave feature in Photoshop on Mac as shown below, your best way is to find unsaved PSD files from its AutoRecover folder.

Step 1. Click "Go" on the Apple menu, and select "Go to Folder". 

Step 2. Type: ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Adobe Photoshop CC 2017/AutoRecover under "Go to the folder:" and click "Go".

Note: Due to different versions of Photoshop or macOS, the specific path of the Photoshop autosave location to access the AutoRecover folder will be different. 

Step 3. Open the "AutoRecover" folder and then Photoshop will present you lost or unsaved files. You need to save the found PSD file as a new project on Mac.

Solution 2. Recover Unsaved Photoshop Files from Photoshop Temp Files on Mac

Sometimes, you may not be able to find an AutoRecover folder on Mac, and this has happened to some Photoshop CC 2017 users. It's normal so you don't need to worry. You can try to look for the unsaved Photoshop files from the temp files instead. Photoshop temp files on Mac are created automatically to contain information when a new PSD file is being created. Normally, the temporary files will disappear soon after the Photoshop app closed. Hence, to ensure the likeliness of a successful temp files recovery, you should go to check the temp folder as soon as possible before it's gone for good.

Step 1. Go to Finder >Application >Terminal. Run it on your Mac.

Step 2. Enter "open $TMPDIR" and press Enter.

Step 3. Now go to "Temporaryitems", find the PSD file and open it with Photoshop to save it on your Mac.

Solution 3. Recover the Previous Version from Time Machine Backup on Mac

If you have forgotten to turn on the Auto Save feature in Adobe Photoshop, Mac Time Machine may have saved your files. Still, the precondition is that you have turned on Time Machine and set up the backup plan of your Photoshop work. 

Step 1. Connect the Time Machine backup drive to Mac, and click "Time Machine" in the Dock.

Step 2. Enter Time Machine, find backups - your Photoshop backup files and then click "Restore" to recover Photoshop lost files on Mac.

Solution 4. Recover Deleted and Corrupted Photoshop Files with Software

• Product Name: EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac
• How It Works: Scan a storage location under an enhanced algorithm, let it be an internal or external drive, for every bit of lost data.
• Compatibility: Support a full recovery of all versions of Photoshop pictures, photos, and documents on macOS Ventura, Big Sur, Catalina, Mojave, El Capitan, and older operating systems.
• Application: [1] Recover photoshop files on Mac that were mistakenly deleted, emptied from the Trash bin, disk formatting, or virus damaged. [2] For unsaved Photoshop files, the software can only scan the autosave folder and temp files, not the unsaved PSD file itself. [3] The software is able to fix Photoshop files that could not complete your request, are corrupted, or are damaged, letting you recover the lost but corrupted PSD file without losing quality.

Download EaseUS Photoshop file recovery software and follow the steps to recover Photoshop files on Mac in three steps. 

Step 1. Search for lost files

Select the disk location to search for lost files (it can be an internal HDD/SSD or an external hard drive) where you lost data and files. Click the "Search for lost files" button.

Step 2. Go through the scanning results

This software will immediately scan your selected disk volume and display pictures, documents, audio, videos, and emails on the left pane.

Step 3. Select the file(s) and recover

Click the data to preview, and click the "Recover" button to have them back.

Besides Photoshop file recovery, EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac also works to recover deleted files on Mac, and restore lost, formatted files like Excel, Word, PowerPoint, images, videos, etc., from multiple storage devices.

Mac Photoshop File Recovery Conclusion

Regarding the topic " how to recover Photoshop files on Mac", we mainly discussed two scenarios and gave corresponding solutions.

#1. Photoshop closed, crashed, or hang up before you could save the PSD file

Where you can try to recover an unsaved Photoshop file including its autosave location, temporary files location, and the previous version in Time Machine backup.

#2. Careless deletion or disk formatting causes the Photoshop file loss

In this case, you should go directly to download EaseUS Mac data recovery software, scan the drive where the PSD files were saved, and perform a one-click recovery.

FAQs - Recover Unsaved Photoshop Files on Mac

Here, we also give a short answer to the frequently asked questions from Mac Photoshop users.

#1. Where are Photoshop autosave files stored on Mac?

The photoshop autosave location on Mac: Library >Application Support> Adobe>Adobe Photoshop CC 2017> AutoRecover folder.

#2. Can you recover Photoshop files?

Yes, the four solutions to Photoshop file recovery on Mac have been demonstrated in the article step by step. You can pick one method or try them all to recover your unsaved, lost, or deleted Photoshop files on Mac.

#3. Does Photoshop save temporary files?

Yes, when you create a Photoshop file the temporary file will also be automatically created. The difference is that Photoshop is a program that works a lot of data at once, and it saves the temporary files to a "Scratch disk" instead of your computer memory.

#4. Where do deleted Photoshop files go on Mac?

Where do deleted files go? They are in the Trash after deleting. If you have emptied the Trash, you can perform Mac Trash recovery to restore lost PSD files.