How to Recover Unsaved & Deleted Krita Files on Windows [2025 Guide]

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🎨 How to Recover Krita Files (Unsaved or Deleted) on Windows – Step-by-Step

You’re working on a Krita project — maybe a digital painting, animation, or design — and suddenly your system crashes, the app freezes, or you accidentally delete an important .kra file.

❗ “I closed Krita without saving!”
❗ “My computer shut down during my session!”
❗ “I deleted the wrong file!”

As a senior IT systems engineer with over 10 years of experience in file recovery and digital art workflows, I’ve helped hundreds of users recover unsaved and deleted Krita files using built-in tools, third-party methods, and advanced recovery techniques.

In this guide, you’ll learn:

• Where Krita stores autosave and backup files
• How to recover unsaved work
• Steps to restore deleted .kra files
• Best data recovery tools for Windows
• Pro tips to prevent future losses

Let’s get started.

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⚠️ Why You Might Lose Krita Files

Before we dive into recovery, it’s helpful to understand what typically causes data loss in Krita:

Cause	Description
💥 Unexpected Crash	Krita or Windows crashes before saving
🔌 Power Failure	Sudden shutdown while working
❌ Accidental Deletion	File deleted from disk or overwritten
💾 Auto-save Disabled	Autosave or backup settings not enabled
💻 Disk Corruption	Hard drive or SSD failure

The good news? Krita has built-in recovery features, and there are multiple ways to recover lost files even if they weren’t saved.

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🛠️ Step-by-Step: How to Recover Unsaved Krita Files

🔁 Method 1: Use Krita’s Built-In Recovery Option

When Krita crashes or closes unexpectedly, it often leaves behind temporary recovery files.

Steps:

1. Open Krita
2. If there was a crash, you should see a prompt like:

“It looks like Krita didn’t shut down correctly last time. Would you like to recover unsaved documents?”

3. Click Yes to open the Recovery Dialog

📌 This will show any available recovered sessions with filenames like recovered_*.kra

4. Select the file you want → Click Open

✅ Pro Tip: These files are usually stored in:

C:\Users\<YourUser>\AppData\Local\krita\recovery\

If you don’t see the prompt, manually check that folder.

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💾 Method 2: Check for Autosave / Backup Files

Krita can create backup files if you’ve enabled the autosave feature.

Steps:

1. Go to Settings → Configure Krita → Backup
2. Ensure Autosave every X minutes is enabled
3. Look in the same folder as your original file — backups often appear as:

• filename.kra~
• filename_autosave.kra

📌 Some versions also store backups in:

C:\Users\<YourUser>\AppData\Roaming\krita\backup\

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📂 Method 3: Restore Previous Versions (Windows File History)

If you have File History or System Protection enabled, you may be able to restore a previous version of your .kra file.

Steps:

1. Right-click the folder where your Krita file was saved
2. Choose Restore previous versions
3. Select a recent snapshot and click Restore

📌 This works best if you had OneDrive, external backups, or system restore points enabled.

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🧹 Step-by-Step: How to Recover Permanently Deleted Krita Files

If you deleted the file and it’s no longer in the Recycle Bin, here’s how to try recovery.

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🕵️‍♂️ Method 4: Search the Temp Folder for Krita Sessions

Even if Krita didn’t save directly, it may have written temporary data to the system temp folder.

Steps:

1. Press Win + R → Type %temp% → Enter
2. In the Temp folder, look for files named:

• krita_temp_*.*
• krita_unsaved_*.*
• Any .kra or .ora files

1. Copy them to a safe location and try opening in Krita

📌 Not guaranteed, but sometimes these files contain partial or full artwork.

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🔍 Method 5: Use Data Recovery Software (Best for Deleted Files)

If all else fails, use a file recovery tool to scan your drive for deleted .kra files.

Top Tools:

Tool	Features
Recuva (Free)	Easy to use, scans deleted files
DiskDigger (Free/Paid)	Deep scanning, supports many formats
PhotoRec (Free)	Powerful command-line tool for deep recovery
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard (Paid)	GUI-based, great for beginners
R-Studio (Paid)	Advanced recovery for professionals

Steps:

1. Download and install one of the above tools
2. Select the drive where the file was stored
3. Scan for deleted files
4. Filter by .kra extension or search for file names
5. Preview and recover found files

📌 The sooner you act after deletion, the better your chances — avoid writing new data to the drive.

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🧠 Method 6: Extract from RAM (Advanced – Only Works Immediately After Crash)

If your PC just crashed and you’re trying to recover memory contents, you can try extracting RAM dumps.

⚠️ Only useful immediately after a crash, and requires technical knowledge.

Tools:

• Win64 Memory Reader
• RAM Capturer

This method is complex and rarely successful unless you know exactly what you’re doing.

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🧪 Bonus Tip: Prevent Future Loss – Enable Backup Settings in Krita

To avoid future heartache:

Enable These in Krita:

1. Autosave Interval:
   Settings → Configure Krita → Backup → Autosave every X minutes
2. Create Backup Copies:
   Settings → Configure Krita → Backup → Create backup copy when saving
3. Use Cloud Storage:
   Save projects to OneDrive, Google Drive, or Dropbox for automatic backups

📌 Also consider backing up to external drives or using version control tools like Git LFS for large art files.

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🧠 Expert Summary and Recommendations

Scenario	Recommended Recovery Method
Krita crashed	Method 1 – Use Recovery Dialog
File not saved	Method 2 – Check Backup Folder
Deleted file	Method 5 – Use Data Recovery Tool
File overwritten	Method 3 – Restore Previous Version
System crash	Method 4 – Temp Folder Search
Urgent, advanced	Method 6 – RAM Dump Extraction

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📌 Final Thoughts

Losing a Krita file — whether unsaved, deleted, or corrupted — can feel devastating, especially if it contains hours of creative work.

But the good news is: many recovery options exist, from Krita’s own recovery tools to powerful third-party software.

By following this step-by-step guide, you’ve taken the right steps to:
✅ Locate temporary and backup files
✅ Recover deleted .kra files using professional tools
✅ Set up preventive measures for future safety

Remember:
💾 Always enable autosave and backup settings
📂 Back up important projects to cloud or external storage
🛠️ Act quickly after deletion to maximize recovery chances

With the right tools and knowledge, you can recover most lost Krita files — and protect yourself from future loss.

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Author:
Senior IT Systems Engineer | Digital Art Workflow Specialist | Microsoft Certified Professional
🔧 Over 10 years of experience in file recovery, digital asset management, and creative software troubleshooting