Auto-save and crash recovery

How Auto-Save works

Once you've saved a project for the first time, Auto-Save takes over and creates backup copies for you. Each one goes into an Auto-Save folder, under the same file name and location as your project. You can turn Auto-Save on or off, or change how often it runs, right from the After Effects preferences. 

How crash recovery works

If After Effects crashes, you can open the Auto-Save folder yourself and track down the most recent file. You'll usually find several backups there, each named after your project with a number added, so you can tell them apart by when they were saved. Once you find the one you want, open it and take a look before you do anything else. 

When you open an auto-save, After Effects still treats it as part of your original project, not as a new file on its own. If you select Save, After Effects writes your changes back into that original project and replaces it. Select Save As instead to give the recovered version its own name and location, so your original project stays untouched, and you can still compare the two.

Improved Auto-Save

The After Effects Beta app adds several improvements to Auto-Save and crash recovery.

Untitled projects are covered

Auto-Save now runs for projects you haven’t saved yet, so even work you haven’t given a name or location to can still be recovered. Auto-saved copies also use cleaner, easier-to-read file names, so it’s simpler to tell one backup from another.

Auto-Save keeps a steady schedule

Auto-Save now runs on a fixed interval measured from your last auto-save, not your last manual save. That means it no longer restarts its timer every time you save manually, so backups keep to a predictable schedule no matter how often you save manually. You can still turn Auto-Save on or off, or adjust how often it runs, from After Effects preferences.

Crash recovery takes one click

After a crash, After Effects offers to reopen your most recent auto-save automatically, so you don’t need to browse to the Auto-Save folder or sort through backups by their file numbers to find the right one. This applies whether the crash happened while you had a saved project open or while you were working on something you hadn’t saved yet.

Recovered projects protect your original file

When you open an auto-saved file this way, it loads as an untitled recovered project instead of overwriting your original file. Your first save creates a new file, so you no longer need to remember to use Save As to keep your original project intact.