Where Is Drawing Recovery in AutoCAD?

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Where Is Drawing Recovery in AutoCAD?

AutoCAD is a powerful software used by professionals in various industries for creating precise and detailed drawings. However, like any other software, AutoCAD is not immune to crashes or power failures that can lead to the loss of unsaved work. Fortunately, AutoCAD provides a feature called Drawing Recovery that helps you recover your work in such situations.

What is Drawing Recovery?

Drawing Recovery is a feature in AutoCAD that automatically saves your work at regular intervals. It creates backup files of your drawings so that you can recover them in case of an unexpected shutdown or crash. The backup files are stored with the same name as your original drawing but with a different file extension.

Locating the Drawing Recovery Files

To access the Drawing Recovery files, follow these steps:

  1. Open AutoCAD.
  2. Navigate to the “File” menu at the top left corner of the screen.
  3. Select “Drawing Utilities” from the drop-down menu.
  4. Click on “Recover” from the sub-menu.

Note: If you have experienced a recent crash or power failure, AutoCAD will automatically prompt you to open the Drawing Recovery Manager when you launch the software again. In this case, you can skip steps 1-4 and directly proceed to step 5.

The Drawing Recovery Manager

The Drawing Recovery Manager displays a list of all available recovery files. Each file is labeled with its original name and date/time stamp, making it easier for you to identify your desired drawing. To open a specific recovery file:

  1. Select the desired drawing from the list.
  2. Click on the “Open” button.

If you want to restore multiple drawings, you can select them by holding down the Ctrl key while clicking on each file. Once you have selected all the desired files, click on the “Open” button to open them simultaneously.

Recovering an Autosaved Drawing

In addition to the Drawing Recovery feature, AutoCAD also provides an Autosave feature. The Autosave feature automatically saves your work at regular intervals, creating a separate autosaved file. To recover an autosaved drawing:

  1. Open AutoCAD.
  2. Navigate to the “File” menu.
  3. Select “Drawing Utilities”.
  4. Choose “Recover” from the sub-menu.
  5. Click on “Drawing Recovery Manager”.
  6. In the Drawing Recovery Manager, look for files labeled with “autosave” in their names.
  7. Select the desired autosaved drawing from the list.
  8. Click on “Open” to recover and open the autosaved drawing.

Tips for Preventing Data Loss in AutoCAD

To minimize the risk of losing your work in AutoCAD, consider implementing these best practices:

  • Frequent Saving: Save your work frequently using Ctrl+S or by clicking on the floppy disk icon in AutoCAD’s toolbar. This ensures that even if a crash occurs, you have a recent version of your drawing available for recovery.

  • AutoSave Interval: Adjust AutoCAD’s Autosave interval to a suitable time period.

    By default, AutoCAD saves your work every 10 minutes, but you can modify this setting according to your preference.

  • Backup Files: Regularly create manual backup copies of your drawings by using the “Save As” feature in AutoCAD. This allows you to have multiple versions of your drawing at different stages of completion.

By following these practices and utilizing the Drawing Recovery and Autosave features in AutoCAD, you can significantly reduce the chances of losing your valuable work due to unexpected events.