Inside: a file named “Client_Project_v3_Autosave.aep” — timestamp 2:28 AM, just two minutes before the crash.
Frustrated but desperate, Jamie opened the project file in a text editor (yes, a .aep is just XML). It was gibberish. Then they remembered: After Effects CC 2018 introduced “Team Projects” and improved auto-save logic, but it also kept hidden recovery files in a specific location. adobe after effects cc 2018
Jamie opened the autosave. Everything was there — every keyframe, every expression, every particle burst. They changed the auto-save preference to “every 10 minutes” and set the maximum project versions to 20. Inside: a file named “Client_Project_v3_Autosave
Jamie reopened After Effects. The project file? Corrupted. The last manual save was from 10 PM — four hours of keyframing, easing, and expression writing, gone. The autosave folder? Empty, because Jamie had never checked where CC 2018 stored them. Then they remembered: After Effects CC 2018 introduced
