Restart InDesign to begin the automatic document recovery process.
Learn how to recover documents if InDesign shuts down unexpectedly.
If InDesign shuts down unexpectedly due to system errors, power outages, or other problems, then any unsaved changes made to InDesign documents you were working on may be lost. The InDesign automatic recovery feature can help you retrieve these documents.
While you make changes to an InDesign document, InDesign performs a mini-save of the changes once every minute. InDesign stores these changes in temporary files in the InDesign Recovery folder, adds the changes to the document, and then deletes the temporary files every time you choose File > Save. If InDesign shuts down unexpectedly, InDesign attempts to use these temporary files to recover unsaved changes to the document.
Each user account has a separate InDesign Recovery folder. If InDesign can't locate the InDesign Recovery folder during startup, it re-creates the folder.
If you take the document in need of recovery to another system and open it there, InDesign will be unable to search the RecoveryData file and you'll lose the opportunity to recover data that may have been stored before the crash. Therefore, try to recover documents immediately after a crash by starting InDesign and saving any recovered documents.
The information contained in the above folders is in an encrypted format. You can't use it to recover the document using a third-party tool or force InDesign to recover the data.
Restart InDesign to begin the automatic document recovery process.
InDesign checks the InDesign Recovery folder for information on documents that were open when it shut down, and then attempts to open these documents and incorporate any mini-saved data into them.
Save the recovered document, or revert to the last saved version of the document.
If InDesign successfully opens a document and incorporates mini-saved data into the document, the filename appears as follows: "[My Original Filename] Recovered".
If a recovered document is too damaged to open, InDesign could quit again or display an error message.
(Optional) Check the ProtectiveShutdownLog file to determine if a third-party plug-in caused InDesign to crash.
Open the file in a text editor to view the time, date, error, and plug-ins that were loaded in InDesign when the crash occurred. See Troubleshoot InDesign third-party plug-ins.
While InDesign tries to recover your document, you might see one of the messages in the table below.
Some messages ask you how to proceed. Under some circumstances, you can click the following buttons:
Message |
What does it mean? |
Do you want to start automatic recovery? |
At least one of the documents requiring recovery is damaged (even though the message doesn't mention damage). See Troubleshoot file issues. |
[File name] could not be found. Do you want to postpone its recovery? |
InDesign couldn't locate the document because it has been deleted, moved, or renamed. Or, the volume (server) on which the document is located may be currently unavailable. |
[File name] could not be recovered because it had been changed. |
The document has already been recovered and saved over a network, so the document's contents no longer match the local file containing the mini-saved information. To locate the file, choose File > Open. |
Cannot open 'unknown document.' Database error information not available. |
The document's temporary file is damaged or can't be found. You can still open the last saved version of the document. |
[File name] is damaged beyond any possibility of recovery. |
The document is unrecoverable because it is damaged. See Troubleshoot file issues. |
[File name] may be damaged. Do you want to open it anyway? |
The document contains inconsistencies that could cause InDesign to crash. If you open the document, copy and paste its contents into a new document. See Troubleshoot file issues. |
InDesign detected that the file [File name] is damaged. We have repaired the file, but some content may be missing. (Recommended) Click "Save As" to save the repaired file with a new name. |
The original file was corrupt and a new file has been created with the recovered content. You can save the file or continue to work on the new untitled document. |
InDesign detected that the file [File name] is damaged. We have repaired the file, but some content may be missing. Your original file is intact and the repaired file is a duplicate of it |
The original file was corrupt and a new file has been created with the recovered content. |
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