No auto-saved file after crash

Written by László Nagy

Autosave is that feature of ArchiCAD, which enables the user not to lose his work in case of a program or system crash, power outage or similar circumstances that cause the sudden conclusion of the program.
If after such a thing occurs and ArchiCAD does not offer you to open the autosaved document, one of the following may be the cause:

Autosave is set to "OFF" in Options\Preferences\Data Safety...
After a Save (CTRL+S/CMD+S) operation the user has not yet done the required number of steps or the required amount of time has not passed by for an Autosave to occur. This is because after a Save, the program empties the content of the Autosave folder.
The version of ArchiCAD started after the crash is not the same version he was using when the crash occurred. This means major version versions, such as AC 7.0 or AC 8.1.
More than one copies of ArchiCAD were running at the time of the crash (e.g. caused by power outage). Currently ArchiCAD will bring in only one of these autosaves; others will be lost. This will be fixed in upcoming releases.

When ArchiCAD is started and it does not offer an Autosave to be opened, then those data will not be able to be retrieved. This is because ArchiCAD deletes files in the Autosave folder as soon as you select not to open the Autosave data. But there is something else one can do right after a crash to try to save his data.
The Technical background behind is this: There are usually five types of files in the Autosave folder.
The first one is a file named '@Global.T'. This file contains autosaved Floor Plan data of the ArchiCAD Project.
The next one is named 'ArchiCAD.TMP' on Windows, 'ArchiCAD.Temp' on Mac. This contains the generated 3D Model. This file is not necessary because the 3D Model may be regenerated at any time and does not contain additional drawing data like the Section/Elevation Windows and Detail Windows do.
The third one is files with names '@Sg_-1_15000.T', '@Sg_-1_15001.T', '@Sg_-1_15002.T' and so on. These files contain the state of Section/Elevation Windows. They contain all drawing elements additionally created in those Section/Elevation Windows. They get generated either when the enough steps are done or enough time has passed or when the ArchiCAD Project is saved after their creation.
The fourth kind is file with names '@Sg_0_2.T', '@Sg_0_3.T', '@Sg_0_4.T' and so on. They contain the state of Detail Windows, including elements additionally drawn in them. They get generated the same way as Section/Elevation Autosave data.
The fifth file is named '@Lock.T'. ArchiCAD uses this internally, and you don't need to bother with it at all.

Here is what to do after a crash to make sure your data is preserved:

Before restarting ArchiCAD after a crash, copy the content of the Autosave folder into another folder. Note: When there are more than one ArchiCAD copies running on your machine, each one creates its own Autosave folder. These folders are located at "C:\Documents and Settings\\Graphisoft\" on Windows and "System:users::Library:Application Support:Graphisoft" on Mac. Their names will become "ArchiCAD AutoSave Folder", "ArchiCAD AutoSave Folder-1", "ArchiCAD AutoSave Folder-2" and so on, in order of their creation. How do you know which Autosave folder belongs to your copy that just crashed? Do the following: save in all other open ArchiCAD copies. The result will be that the '@Global.T' file disappears from autosaved folders belonging to those copies. The one you will still have your '@Global.T' file is the Autosave folder of the crashed copy. If after this, there is no '@Global.T' file in any folders, then Autosave data has been damaged and cannot be recovered. Alternately, you may quit all other ArchiCAD copies, which will delete their own Autosave folders upon exiting, so the one remaining will be the one you need.
In this copied folder, rename the file '@Global.T' to '@Global.pln'.
Start your crashed ArchiCAD version.
If the program offers you to open Autosaved data, do so and keep working with the file. Make sure to save it as soon as possible (also, create backups as soon as possible).
If the program does not offer you to open Autosaved data, just create a New Project.
Open the file '@Global.pln'.
Copy all '@Sg_-1_15xxx.T' and '@Sg_0_xx.T' files back to the original Autosave folder. If you don't do this, ArchiCAD will be missing these data and all additionally created elements in those Windows will be lost.
Regenerate all Section/Elevations and Details. This way ArchiCAD will get autosaved Section/Elevation and Detail data.
Save the Project.

Notes:

Do not copy the '@Lock.T' file into your Autosave folder. It might cause trouble, if you do.
After you quit all ArchiCAD copies, check to see if there are any remaining, undeleted Autosave folders and delete them. ArchiCAD tries to delete these, but may not be able to do so after a crash.

Page last updated: Thursday, June 10, 2004