GIMP Recover Last Session: Recover Unsaved/Deleted/Lost GIMP Photos or Files

Tracy King updated on Jul 20, 2023 to File Recovery | How-to Articles

This article provides professional GIMP file recovery software and manual method to help you effectively recover last session, deleted, unsaved, or formatted GIMP files and photos from Windows PC with simple steps. Free download to recover lost GIMP photos, images and files with ease.

How to recover last session in GIMP? How to recover unsaved GIMP files from backup? Read this tutorial and use the solutions to help you out.

Workable Solutions Step-by-step Troubleshooting
Method 1. Recover deleted GIMP last session  Download a file recovery tool > scan for lost GIMP files > recover the deleted files...Full steps
Method 2. Restore unsaved GIMP from Backups Open GIMP and click file > click Recent and go to Document History...Full steps

GIMP, a top-ranked free photo edit software, serves users with magnificent photo editing effects and features. According to most users, GIMP seems really helpful with their files and photos. Users can use this software to beautify their personal selfies, business images or even party post. However, due to careless operation, virus attacking or even system crash, it's quite easy for users to lose GIMP photos and files.

So how to recover deleted, unsaved, or lost GIMP photos and files?

Note: Don't do anything to the hard drive where you lost GIMP files before you find a way to restore lost them.

Method 1. Recover Deleted GIMP Files with GIMP Recovery Software

If you don't have any GIMP file backups, you can apply professional file recovery software to restore all lost, deleted or formatted GIMP files and photos with ease. 

Professional GIMP file recovery software - EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is exactly what you need. If your lost GIMP files are less than 2GB, you can directly try its free version - EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Free. If lost GIMP files are over 2GB, you can free download it right here now and purchase a serial key to activate it with unlimited data recovery capacity. 

Let's see how to recover lost, deleted, formatted or unsaved GIMP files with EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard now:

Step 1. Select a location and start scanning

Launch EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard, hover on the partition/drive where the deleted files were stored. Click "Scan" to find lost files.

Step 2. Select the files you want to recover

When the scanning has finished, select the deleted files you want to recover. You can click on the filter to display only the file types you want. If you remember the file name, you can also search in the "Search files or folders" box, which is the fastest way to find the target file. 

Step 3. Preview and recover deleted files

Preview the recoverable files. Then, select files you want to restore and click "Recover" to store the files at a new storage locations instead of the disk where the data was previously lost.

Method 2. Restore Unsaved GIMP Files from Backups

Actually, there's no easy way to recover unsaved GIMP files. Gimp does not provide an AutoSave feature to store data automatically. If GIMP crashes, there's no way to save the data before closing the error; so, you should save all of your data after every accepted step, and make it a habit to back up. If you have created backups for GIMP files, you can follow below path to find lost GIMP photos now:

/home/.gimp-2.8/tmp

If you don't find them in specific path, you can also follow to restore lost GIMP files from backup with below steps:

  • Open GIMP and click "File"
  • Click "Recent" and go to "Document History"

There you'll be able to find all your recent GIMP photos and files in the Document History. Then you can copy and save them into a secure spot in your PC, even reuse them again. 

GIMP Recover Last Session FAQs

The following four questions are most relevant to GIMP recover last session. Check the answers and find what you need.

1. Where are Gimp files stored?

By default, GIMP creates a program settings folder in Windows 7, 8, and 10 in the root directory of your user folder, usually C:\Users\Administrator\. gimp-2.8. How can you change the location of that folder to be in the AppData, Roaming folder, for example, C:\Users\Computer User\AppData\Roaming\.

2. How do I retrieve an unsaved photo?

As said before, GIMP doesn't support AutoSave and Auto Recovery. Gimp does not save data automatically in case you forget to save. You can try to retrieve the unsaved photos in GIMP by clicking "File" > "Open Recent" > "Document History". If it's not there, you may not be able to find your unsaved files.

3. How do I recover a file I accidentally replaced?

To recover an accidentally overwritten file, you can try the following solution:

  • Open Windows Explorer and go to the folder where the file was located in
  • Right-click inside this folder and select "Properties" from the drop-down menu
  • Select the "Previous Versions" tab and look for an earlier version of the overwritten file

But this works only if you have a backup of your files on your computer.