How to Recover Illustrator Files after Crash or Deleted?

Can I recover an unsaved Illustrator file?

As a popular vector graphics editor, Adobe Illustrator (AI) is used to create graphics, logos, drawings, and other types of images. It can export kinds of file formats like AI, EPS, SVG, etc. However, Adobe Illustrator files can get lost due to kinds of reasons, like a sudden app crash, virus attack, Windows crash, etc.

Illustrator file loss can be desperate for designers, especially the sketch contains lots of effort. Sometimes, it’s unavoidable. Fortunately, you have a chance to recover unsaved or deleted Illustrator files. Read on to learn how to recover illustrator files after crash or deletion.

Recover Illustrator files after accidentally deleted

It’s possible to recover deleted or unsaved Illustrator files. If you accidentally deleted Adobe Illustrator files, you could go to Recycle Bin first to check the deleted files. If files are not in the Recycle Bin, you can recover deleted or lost Illustrator files via backups or data recovery software.

Tips: Sometimes, you may not delete the Illustrator files, but save them to another location. You can go to “File” > “Open Recent” to find the files you’ve recently edited.

Method 1. Recover deleted Illustrator files from Recycle Bin

You may click the Delete or press the Delete on the keyboard to delete files, and then the files will go to Recycle Bin directly. There is still a chance to perform Illustrator files recovery. You can easily recover deleted Illustrator files from Recycle Bin within simple steps.

Step 1. Double click Recycle Bin icon on the desktop.

Step 2. Find the Adobe Illustrator files you want to recover.

Step 3. Right-click the file and select “Restore”. Alternatively, you could drag and drop to the location where you want.

If you deleted Adobe Illustrator files from a USB drive, you can’t find deleted files in Recycle Bin. You can use the following methods to recover deleted files from USB flash drives.

Method 2. Restore Illustrator files to previous versions

If you have enabled File History or created a restoring point, you can restore Illustrator files to previous versions if the files get deleted, lost, or corrupted.

File History is a built-in feature to back up important files that have been stored in specified folders. If you haven’t enabled it, it’s recommended to turn on File History to make regular backups for preventing data loss.

Step 1. Right-click on the files or the folder you want to restore to a previous version. Then select “Restore previous versions”.

Step 2. Select the version you want to restore according to the modified date and then click “Restore To”.  Set a location to save the previous Illustrator files.

Method 3. Recover Illustrator files via file recovery software

How to recover deleted Illustrator files? If you don’t have any available backup files to use, the best choice to recover deleted Illustrator files is a reliable data recovery tool. File recovery software focuses on recovering deleted or lost files without any backup.

There are many data recovery programs on the Internet. MyRecover is recommended for everyone, including novices and professionals. Its user-friendly interface and high recovery rate make the Windows data recovery software a popular one.

★Highlights of MyRecover::

Recover more than 200 types of files including photos, videos, Word documents, Excel files, etc.

Restore deleted or lost data from HDD, SSD, external hard drive, USB drive, SD card, digital camera, etc.

Provide kinds of data recovery solutions, like deleted files recovery, formatted data recovery, missing files recovery, etc.

Help users quickly find the recovered data they want by searching and filtering function.

Compatible with Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7 and Windows Server.

Download this trustworthy file recovery software to find your deleted Illustrator files back!

Step 1. Launch MyRecover on your computer. And then hover the mouse over the drive, and click Scan.

Step 2. The software will scan the partition automatically with a quick scan and deep scan. You don’t need to wait for the scanning process to complete once you find the deleted Illustrator files.

Step 3. Select the deleted Illustrator files and click “Recover X files” to the location you want.

How to Recover Illustrator files after crash?

If your Adobe encountered a crash and your Illustrator files haven’t been saved over, you could recover Illustrator files via the built-in AutoSave feature. It gives you the chance to recover unsaved Illustrator files. Follow the steps to recover Illustrator files after crash.

Step 1. Restart Adobe Illustrator. Adobe auto-recovery process will pop up a window to open all recovered Illustrator files. Click “OK”.

Step 2. If Illustrator has a recovered file, it will open immediately when you relaunch the app.

Step 3. Alternatively, you could navigate to the Illustrator recovered files location.

For Windows computers:

Type %AppData% in Windows Search. And then go to Roaming\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator [version] Settings\en_US\x64\DataRecovery

Bonus tip: How to avoid Illustrator file loss?

Hopefully, you can recover Illustrator files with the methods above. You can go to Recycle Bin first to find deleted Adobe Illustrator files. If you can’t find them in Recycle Bin, you need to restore the Adobe Illustrator files to previous versions if you have enabled File History or created restore points. Otherwise, professional file recovery software-MyRecover could be the best choice to recover Illustrator files.

Of course, if the Illustrator files have been deleted or lost for a long time, it’s not easy to find the deleted files back even with the best file recovery tool. Therefore, to avoid Illustrator files being deleted or lost again, making a regular backup could be the best way to protect data.

It’s recommended to use this freeware-AOMEI Backupper to help you back up any important data from partitions and hard disks. You can easily get your files back easily with available backups.