You lost unsaved work in Roblox Studio and you're hunting for an autosave. Here's the short version: recovery files live in a specific AutoSaves folder on your machine, but they only exist in certain failure situations. If Studio closed normally, there is probably nothing to find — and knowing why will save you a frustrating search.
Where the AutoSaves folder is
Per the official Roblox documentation, Studio writes its auto-recovery files to a fixed location per platform:
- Windows: C:\Users\<your username>\AppData\Local\Roblox\RobloxStudio\AutoSaves
- Mac: /Users/<your username>/Library/Application Support/Roblox/RobloxStudio/AutoSaves/
If a recovery file exists, it will be a place file you can open directly in Studio. Check the file's modified timestamp to confirm it's from the session you lost.
When Studio actually creates a recovery file
This is the part most guides skip, and it's why so many developers open the folder and find it empty.
A recovery file exists when something went wrong. According to Roblox's documentation, Studio creates recovery files when saving to Roblox fails due to the file size limit. When collaboration is enabled, Studio backs up the last three save attempts as recovery files on your system, so you may see multiple files for the same place.
A recovery file usually does not exist after a clean close. Developers on the Roblox DevForum report that when you close Studio normally, Studio deletes the autosave — recovery files are only present when Studio crashes or is force-closed. Auto-recovery is meant to survive failures, not to act as an undo button for a deliberate exit. That's why so many people close Studio without saving, go looking for an autosave, and find the folder empty or containing only an old file.
So, quick triage:
| What happened | Is a recovery file likely? |
|---|---|
| Studio crashed or was force-closed mid-session | Yes — check AutoSaves |
| A save to Roblox failed due to the file size limit | Yes — Studio backs up the failed attempt |
| You closed Studio and chose not to save | Usually no — developers report the autosave is deleted on a normal close |
| You closed Studio after saving | No file needed — your save is current |
When collaboration is not enabled for a place, Roblox's documentation says Studio relies on the Auto-Recovery settings in Studio Settings. Open File → Studio Settings and search for "auto" to find them, then confirm Auto-Recovery is enabled for any solo, local work. When you're working in a collaborative session, Studio manages saving differently, so these settings matter most for solo work.
What to do when there's no recovery file
If the AutoSaves folder is empty, you still have one strong fallback — but only for work that has reached Roblox's servers.
Version History on Roblox. Per the official documentation, Version History lets you track, manage, and restore saved and published versions of a place. You can restore from inside Studio (Window → Version History) or from the Creator Dashboard: select the game, go to Configure → Places, pick the place, open Version History, and click Restore next to the version you want. Note that restoring does not automatically publish — if the place is live, you still need to publish the restored version.
Local-only place files are the risky case. Version History covers versions that were saved or published to Roblox. A place file that lives only on your disk has no server-side versions to fall back on, so if the file is lost and no recovery file was generated, there is no cloud copy to restore.
Habits that make this a non-event next time
- Save or publish to Roblox, don't just save locally. Versions saved or published to Roblox appear in Version History and can be restored.
- Keep Auto-Recovery enabled in Studio Settings for any solo local work.
- Save before risky operations — importing large assets, running scripts that modify many instances, or installing plugins are the moments crashes tend to happen.