But here’s the catch: They are temporary .tmp or .asd files that Illustrator generates. If you don’t know where to look or how to handle them, you might think your work is gone forever.

Last updated: 2025

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.