Is there a way to retrieve the file in illustrator that just been accidentally replaced?

Question

Is there a way to retrieve the file in illustrator that just been accidentally replaced? is there some sort of history? The application was closed after it was replaced so there's no way i can undo it.

Answer 1

Only via a backup solution. There's no method within Illustrator itself or provided by Adobe.

Answer 2

Sadly, no. Undo is Illustrator's only way to walk you back to a previous version of a file.

Because designers so often work on similar revisions of their files, and overwriting your work is so easy, it's a really good idea to have software in place that tracks your file history. Here are some popular options:

• Dropbox: The gold standard for fast, simple, feature-rich file sync
• Google Drive: A lower-priced competitor to Dropbox
• Pixelapse & LayerVault: Like Dropbox, but have revision & collaboration features oriented specifically towards designers

Presently, I'm learning SourceTree, a GUI for Git, which is a full-fledged version management system. That allows for annotating major versions, branching off features-in-progress to be merged into a codebase later, and things like that.

As designers, we put so much time into these fragile little files that I feel really nervous working on any file that's not secured by a file-history solution of some kind. Without some way to restore to a previous version, data-loss is not a question of "if" but "when" and "how bad".