How to Recover a Kdenlive Project After a Crash

Experiencing a sudden crash while editing in Kdenlive can be frustrating, but your progress is rarely lost forever. This guide provides a straightforward, step-by-step walkthrough on how to recover your unsaved Kdenlive projects using the built-in automatic recovery prompt, manually locating autosaved backup files on Windows and Linux, and adjusting your settings to prevent future data loss.

Use the Automatic Recovery Prompt

When you relaunch Kdenlive after an unexpected shutdown, the software typically detects the crash. A dialog box will appear asking if you want to recover the auto-saved version of your project. Click Recover or Yes to load the most recent state of your timeline. Once opened, immediately save the project manually by going to File > Save As.

Locate Kdenlive Autosave Files Manually

If the automatic recovery prompt does not appear, you can manually search for Kdenlive’s temporary autosave files. These files are saved periodically and can be opened directly.

On Windows: Press Win + R, type %LocalAppData%\kdenlive\temp, and press Enter. Look for files with the .kdenlive extension that match your project’s name or show a timestamp close to the time of the crash.
On Linux: Navigate to ~/.local/share/kdenlive/ or ~/.cache/kdenlive/ in your file manager. Look for recovery files stored in these directories.

Once you find the correct file, open it in Kdenlive and save it to your preferred project directory.

Check for Project Backup Files (.bak)

If you had already saved your project at least once before the crash, Kdenlive automatically maintains backup versions of your project file.

Navigate to the folder where your original .kdenlive project file is stored.
Look for files appended with .bak or date-based timestamps (for example, yourproject.kdenlive.bak).
Copy the backup file to a safe folder, rename the extension from .bak to .kdenlive, and open it in Kdenlive.

Enable Autosave for Future Protection

To ensure your progress is continuously protected in the future, verify that Kdenlive’s autosave feature is active:

Open Kdenlive and go to Settings > Configure Kdenlive (or Kdenlive > Preferences on macOS).
Select the Document tab on the left menu.
Check the box for Enable crash recovery (auto save).
Set the auto-save interval to a short duration, such as 3 or 5 minutes, to minimize data loss during any future crashes.