I'm running OSX 10.8.0 (Inkscape 0.48.2) on a macbook pro and I was working on a vector project and I made sure to save my work before turning off my computer. After I turned it back on later my image had disappeared and I could only find an older version of the image I had saved to my desktop a day earlier. I cannot figure out where my current image is stored. please help, a full days work is on the line here! When I go to file > open recent it says there are no items found.

sagegami wrote:I was working on a vector project and I made sure to save my work before turning off my computer.

Do you remember the file name you used when saving it? Or recall the directory you saved it into? Did you try to search in the Finder (or with Spotlight) for all SVG files recently changed on your system? Unless Inkscape failed to save the file (you would have seen an error dialog if that happens), it's bound to be somewhere on your hard drive…

sagegami wrote:When I go to file > open recent it says there are no items found.

See this earlier comment why likely the file doesn't show in the list after restarting Inkscape (caveat: possibly contains too much technical information/details):

• Re: Open Recent does not display

Yes, I searched and my computer found the old file but not the latest one. The comments you linked me to seem to match the problem I'm experiencing but I'm not sure how to get to that recently-used.xbel file or if it even exists on my machine. I'm still confused though does this mean my work just vanished or is it stored somewhere where the program doesn't know to retrieve it from?

sagegami wrote:Yes, I searched and my computer found the old file but not the latest one.

Odd - it seems as if you either didn't save the latest version, or saving failed without you being notified appropriately (not supposed to happen). Maybe you turned off your computer too soon after hitting the 'Save' button in Inkscape and didn't leave Inkscape the time to finish saving properly? Else the file ought to be found on the HD, exactly where you chose to save it to.
Whether or not saving the modified file as 'Inkscape SVG' actually failed is not related to the other issue of the list of recently-opened files not being be remembered across different Inkscape sessions.

sagegami wrote:The comments you linked me to seem to match the problem I'm experiencing but I'm not sure how to get to that recently-used.xbel file or if it even exists on my machine. I'm still confused though does this mean my work just vanished or is it stored somewhere where the program doesn't know to retrieve it from?

Whether that one SVG file you last worked on does exist somewhere (or vanished) and whether or not a list of recently-opened files has been maintained is not related: If the SVG file you last worked on exists somewhere on the disk, you can open it with Inkscape either by double-clicking the file in the Finder, or by opening it from within Inkscape (browse to the folder and select the file).

To work around the problem with 'File > Open recent…' being empty each time you launch Inkscape [1], follow these steps:

1. Open a new Terminal window (Applications > Utilities > Terminal)
2. type the next line as is into the terminal (IMPORTANT: don't change upper/lower case and whitespace):

   Code: Select all

   mkdir -p $HOME/.local/share
3. press enter
4. Quit the Terminal

Now launch Inkscape by itself (it opens with an empty new document), draw a simple shape and save the file. Check whether the name of the new file has been added to 'File > Open Recent…'. Quit Inkscape, launch it again and open the just saved file from 'File > Open Recent…'. This ought to work now.

Note: This will only work from now on - files saved/opened in earlier sessions can't be automagically be added back to the list. Those older files can still be opened directly, either via Finder, or via 'File > Open…' from within Inkscape, if you know the location of the file on your HD.


[1] These steps will create a hidden dot folder '.local' in your Home directory ($HOME), and another one called 'share' inside '.local'. The Finder will not display the hidden directory '.local' (folders with names which start with a dot (aka period) are considered as system files and hidden from regular users). You can access it with Finder any time though via 'Go > Go To Folder…' and entering the full path into the dialog box, as described in the article linked below.

This article on osxdaily.com has some additional information how to create and access hidden dot folders (folders with a leading dot (aka period) in the folder name): Create a Hidden Folder in Mac OS X - Please be aware though that the article describes using such hidden dot folders for a different purpose. You should not try to "unhide" '.local/share' by renaming it because Inkscape and other applications depend on it being present under precisely the name it had been created with.