Fusion 360 Crashed and Now Cannot Find File

[dbeetcher]

I had been working on a project for several days. I had done numerous Saves (using the Save button in the F360 toolbar) and was up to around version V8 or so. F360 crashed a couple hours ago. After restarting F360, my project was only showing V1 version. Could not find any local copies of the project. I tried working offline. Tried rebooting the computer. The only project file I can find is still V1 instead of V8. My F360 version is 2.0.2938.

[paul.clauss]

Hi @dbeetcher

Thanks for posting! I am sorry to hear that you cannot find the current version of the file you were working on after Fusion crashed.

I checked out your crash reports and did not see any records. Did Fusion give you the option to send a crash report when it crashed? If your Fusion account is under a different email than your forum account feel free to PM me the other email address.

I would begin looking for the file by checking the crash recovery files in Fusion, as illustrated in this article.

If this does not work, it is possible that some missing files have not been uploaded to A360 cloud storage and may be found in your local cache folders, which you will need to enable hidden files and folders for Windows or Mac to access. To check your local cache folders:

1. Open Windows File Explorer or Finder (Mac).
2. Browse to the following filepaths;
1. Windows: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Autodesk\Autodesk Fusion 360\<Custom Log-in ID>\W.login\F
2. Mac: ~Library/Autodesk/Application Support/Autodesk/Autodesk Fusion 360/ <Custom Log-in ID>/W.login/F
3. Designs containing assemblies with x-references will be found at the filepaths below;

1. Windows: %LOCALAPPDATA%l\Autodesk\Autodesk Fusion 360\<Custom Log-in ID>\W.login\Q\_XRef_
2. Mac: ~Library/Autodesk/Application Support/Autodesk/Autodesk Fusion 360/ <Custom Log-in ID>/W.login/Q/_XRef_

Hopefully this helps! Please let me know if you have any questions or are unable to access the files - I am happy to continue troubleshooting.

[dbeetcher]

Hi Paul,

There was no warning when F360 crashed. It was 'there' one second, and in the next it was gone. Never saw any crash warning at all.

I have only one account for F360, so there is only one email address associated with that account.

Once I restarted F360, it did not give me any option for recovering any files and it did not mention anything about the crash.

I looked for the CrashRecovery folder, but this folder does not seem to exist. I did a Search on my computer, no folder with that name. I tried following the path to the folder (Windows) that was mentioned in the article, but again.....no folder exists.

Under File>Recover Documents, there are 3 files shown there, but they are all at least a month old and not related to this problem.

I checked the local cache folders, but there were no files that were dated 18APR2017 (yesterday) when I did my last save (which should have been version V8 or so). That version is the one that contained my latest data.

Where do I go from here?

Thanks, Dan

[paul.clauss]

Hi @dbeetcher

It is unfortunate that we were unable to locate the files. In order to further investigate this behavior, would you mind sharing your diagnostic log file with me? You can gather them using the instructions in the screencast below and attach them to this forum thread - I am happy to have a look!

Please let me know if you have any questions!

[dbeetcher]

Hi Paul,

The Diagnostic Log File (ZIP) is attached.

As I mentioned earlier, the 'good' project files were from yesterday. F360 crashed today, early afternoon.....probably around 2pm (Central) or so.

Dan

[dbeetcher]

Hi Paul,

The Diagnostic Log File (ZIP) is attached.

As I mentioned earlier, the 'good' project files were from yesterday. F360 crashed today, early afternoon.....probably around 2pm (Central) or so.

Dan

[paul.clauss]

Hi @dbeetcher

Thanks for attaching the files! I will have a look tomorrow morning and let you know what I find - feel free to let know if you have any questions.

[paul.clauss]

Hi @dbeetcher

Thanks for sending the logs over! I was able to have a look through them this morning and noticed that there were two files on version 8 mentioned in the logs from yesterday. Strangely, the logs state that the files loaded sucessfully - which seems to be inconsistent with the behavior you are experiencing.

The two files on version 8 were the Stewmac Dremel Circle Jig and the Krueger Nameplate -  are either of these the file you are having difficulties locating? If so, they should be found at the filepath below - this is where Fusion was opening them from in your local cache.

%APPDATA%/Local/Autodesk/Autodesk Fusion 360/<Alphanumeric ID>/W.login/F/_StewMac Dremel Circle Jig.5f921351-ab0d-47b4-88c8-cc7d21c8cbc6.f3d

%APPDATA%/Local/Autodesk/Autodesk Fusion 360/<Alpahnumeric ID>/W.login/F/_1 Pass Krueger Nameplate.01bced20-d348-41ef-be99-5ca6f2fb4cef.f3d

Please note that you will not be able to copy/paste this filepath into Windows Explorer. You will also need to have hidden files and folders shown - please refer to the links in my initial response on this thread to do so.  I would recommend typing out %LOCALAPPDATA%, hitting enter, and then navigating to the paths shown above. If there is more than one alphanumeric ID folder in the Autodesk Fusion 360 folder, please check in all of them.

I know we already checked these folders and that there were no files from the 18th, but please look for these files in the local cache folder - they could have been delayed or updated automatically on the 19th. Please look for the name rather than the date. 

Some other thoughts are that you could try forcing a manual reset of the Fusion 360 Data Panel to see if it updates the designs to their newest version.  You could also use Workaround #3 from this article to manually clear out your upload queue - remember to copy the Q directory to a different file location to ensure that no files are lost.

Hopefully this helps! Please let me know if you have any questions.

[dbeetcher]

Hi Paul,

The files I'm looking for are the "Stewmac Dremel Circle Jig" ones.

I checked for the file you specified "%APPDATA%/Local/Autodesk/Autodesk Fusion 360/<Alphanumeric ID>/W.login/F/_StewMac Dremel Circle Jig.5f921351-ab0d-47b4-88c8-cc7d21c8cbc6.f3d", but there is no file of that name in the F folder. See the attachment "Folder F Screencap.pdf" for a view of this folder. I could not find the filename that you specified.

There were two StewMac Dremel Circle Jig xxx.f3d files in the folder; I double-clicked on both of them and they opened in new instances of F360, but neither of them was the missing version v8 that I need. I have configured my laptop to show hidden files/folders.

I also have a D folder that contains .f3d files, but none of them contained the version v8 I need. They either were empty 'untitled' files, or a version v1 draft.

I tried the "forcing a manual reset of the Fusion 360 Data Panel" procedure, but it didn't seem to make any difference. In step 4 of that procedure, "4. Rename all  NsCloudBrowserCache_autodesk****.dat file to  NsCloudBrowserCache_autodesk****.dat", there were no files found that had a filename starting with "NsCloudBrowserCache_autodesk...".

I also tried the "use Workaround #3 from this article to manually clear out your upload queue" procedure, but it made no difference either. My "Q folder" only contained one folder "_XRef_", and that folder was completely empty.

At this point, it's looking to me like we won't be able to retrieve the missing file(s). I'll just go ahead and recreate them.

However, it concerns me that I thought I had been making proper backups at a regular interval, and in the end the files were not in the Autodesk cloud, nor in my local cache.

So, going forward, can you describe the correct procedures for saving files to the cloud and saving files to my local cache? I thought I was already doing this, and therefore would have 2 copies of the files saved (one remote and one local), but it doesn't seem to have worked out that way. I'm sure you understand that being able to retrieve work files is critical to the functionality of this application!

Thanks, Dan

[paul.clauss]

Hi @dbeetcher

Thanks for posting! Unfortunately, I think you may be right that we may not be able to retrieve the missing files. I apologize for this - we certainly understand the importance of being able to find lost files after a crash and regret that this behavior effected you.

I would recommend using the Save command (from the file menu) to save files to the cloud and the Export command to create a local archive copy when saving files locally (to your computer). The Save command will create a new version of your design and save it to the cloud, while exporting a local archive copy will create a new copy of the current version of the design and save it locally to a filepath of your choice.

I would like to mention that the auto-save feature should not be relied upon 100% of the time - it is a good idea to save to the cloud frequently and create a local archive copy towards the end of the design process. If Fusion 360 is actively working on a process (e.g. rendering, solving a simulation, using the edit form command, etc.. ) then the auto-save can be skipped. Instead of relying on auto-save, you could use a lesser known feature allows the save a recovery file which does not sync with the cloud. To manually save a recovery version of a document, you could use the keyboard command:

Windows:
CTRL+SHIFT+S
Mac OS:
CMD+SHIFT+S

This recovery file will only be saved locally - no new cloud version will be created. The file will be found in the crash recovery folder as a "backup" format file, as described in this article. To then open this file, you can simply change the file extension to .f3d and upload the file to Fusion either through the Data Panel or the file menu with the "New Design from File option." I have shown how to use this option in the screencast below. While this is a nice technique to get a quick save, I would recommend habitually saving or exporting local copies as described previously.

Hopefully this helps! Again, I apologize that we were unable to locate your file - it is difficult to say what is happening here as you were not given the option to submit a crash report and the log files contain no errors. If you experience this issue again please let me know and we will continue looking into it.

[dbeetcher]

Hi Paul,

Since I was unable to find my lost project file, I just went ahead and re-created the file. Thanks for the procedures to save to the cloud and save locally. Going forward, I'll be sure to backup my work with a locally-saved copy.

Dan

[Anonymous]

Same problem, on version 2.0.3174.

I did not save anything, and after 2 hours of work, I tried to do and [Alt] + [Print Screen] and it started freezing, probably from lack of memory. I immediately started closing processes, and it finally unfroze, after terminating fusion 360 sub-processes. After it unfroze, I tried to do a save, only the _xx file was made before it crashed again for good. No f3d file, and nothing else, not even in temp files.

I strongly recommend saving all work and keep it for at least 10 more saves for that project. If any abrupt end is detected, user can go back to files.

I will remake the file, but I've attached the diagnostic logs in case it helps pinpoint the problem. File to look at: _MerKaBa.84ca844a-1507-448a-b75f-7d8dde9c5eb8.f3d._xx the corresponding f3d is missing.

Thanks.

[paul.clauss · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous

Thanks for posting! Having only the .xx file saved locally suggests that the crash interrupted the creation of the recovery file - I think you are on the right track with recreating the file. I apologize for any inconveniences this may cause you.

I will pass your logs along to the development team so we may gain a better understanding of this behavior - we appreciate you sending them over!

In the future, I would recommend not ending the Fusion 360 processes when it hangs, as data could be getting pushed to the cloud. The .xx file shows that is started, and it is possible that ending the Fusion 360 processes stopped the backup file from being uploaded completely to the cloud. Thank you for bringing this to our attention and feel free to reach out if you have any questions!

[johnvaille94]

Hi,

Was there any resolution to this issue? I had the exact same problem today and now I'm missing an afternoon's worth of work with only the .f3d._xx file to show for it. 

Please help,

John

[awilliamwright]

How are we supposed to know if Fusion is erasing the autosaved file to make a new one while the program is locked up? Are we supposed to just sit back and let Fusion sit there frozen for extended periods of time, just in case it's potentially turning an xx file into an autosave? Why doesn't it make TWO autosave files, so there's some redundancy? (I know it's not, because Fusion is supposed to make an autosave every 5 minutes for me, and the most recent f3d file among the local files was an hour old). What's the point of having an autosave system if this is how it works?

I was lucky this evening that I only lost an hour of work (I wasn't manually saving as often because the project lags my machine too much, so technically still my idiocy that caused this), but this is extremely frustrating.

[amalkoshy11]

I am at a similar situation. The software just crashed and I am unable to find the recovery file in the cloud and also in my local file folders.

Kindly help @paul.clauss 

[dbeetcher]

Sorry, I probably wouldn’t be able to help you with this. I haven’t been using Fusion 360 lately and I’m so rusty I almost have to start all over again! But I’m sure there are other F360 users who can help you with this.