How to Recover Paint 3D Projects, Step by Step

Most lost projects are not really lost. They sit in a folder most people never see. Here is how to recover Paint 3D projects in the right order, from the safest step to the last resort.

Where your projects really are

Paint 3D never saves projects to Documents or Pictures. It keeps them in its own storage:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Microsoft.MSPaint_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\Projects

Some guides give a different path for this. Check the one you are using against this one before you follow any steps. Our guide on where Paint 3D files are stored explains everything inside that folder.

Step 1: Look in the app first

1. Open Paint 3D.
2. Click Menu, then Open.
3. Look under Saved projects.

Paint 3D also has a Recovered projects area for work it kept after a problem. If you see it, open the project, then save it at once with Menu, Save as, Paint 3D project and a new name.

If your project is there, you are done. If the list is empty, or Paint 3D says "Sorry, we couldn't load your recent projects", go on.

Step 2: Make a backup before you touch anything

This one step protects you from every mistake that could follow.

1. Close Paint 3D completely.
2. Press Windows + R, paste the path above, and press Enter.
3. Click the up arrow in File Explorer to go to LocalState.
4. Right-click the Projects folder, choose Copy, and paste it onto your desktop or another drive.

Now you can try the next steps without any risk. If something goes wrong, copy this backup back.

Step 3: Check that your projects still exist

Open the Projects folder again. You should see a file named Projects.json and one or more folders.

Open each folder. A project folder holds many .bin files and one Thumbnail.png. Open the thumbnail to see which project it is.

The folder names will not match your project names. Paint 3D uses its own, such as Checkpoint or WorkingFolder (2).

• Folders with thumbnails are there: your work still exists. The problem is the list that points to it. Go to Step 4.
• No project folders at all: there is nothing left for the list to point to. Skip to Step 5.

Step 4: Repair the project list

Projects.json is the index. It is a short text list of your projects, each with a name and the folder that holds it. If this file gets emptied or damaged, your projects vanish from the Open page even though their folders are fine.

Open Projects.json with Notepad. A healthy one starts with [{"Id": and names your projects. A broken one is empty, shows only [], or is cut off.

Paint 3D also writes temporary files with names ending in .TMP. The part before .TMP differs from PC to PC. One of them may still hold an older, working copy of the list.

1. Close Paint 3D.
2. In the Projects folder, look for a file ending in .TMP.
3. Open it with Notepad. If it starts with [{"Id": and lists your project names, it is a copy of the index.
4. Rename Projects.json to Projects-old.json.
5. Copy the .TMP file, paste it in the same folder, and rename the copy to Projects.json.
6. Open Paint 3D and check Menu, Open.

To be clear about what we know: the app's own code shows it writes these .TMP files, and the index format above is taken from real files. We could not break a working index on purpose to test this fix from start to finish. That is why Step 2 comes first. If it does not help, put your backup back.

If there is no .TMP file, we know of no tested way to rebuild the list by hand.

Step 5: Look for an older copy of the folder

If you use File History or another backup tool, an older copy of the Projects folder may exist.

1. Go to LocalState as in Step 2.
2. Right-click Projects and choose Properties.
3. Open the Previous Versions tab.

If the tab lists a copy from before the loss, restore it to a new place first, then copy the project folders you need. If the tab is empty, Windows holds no older copy.

What not to do

In Windows Settings, the Paint 3D app page offers Repair and Reset. They are not the same.

• Repair keeps the app's data, in Microsoft's own words. It is safe to try when the app misbehaves.
• Reset deletes the app's data. That includes every project in the Projects folder.
• Uninstall removes the app's storage too.

So never reset or uninstall while you still hope to get work back. Make the backup in Step 2 first, every time. For other fixes that keep your work, see our guide to Paint 3D not working.

Getting back unsaved work

If Paint 3D closed before you saved, open it again and check Menu, then Open. While you work, Paint 3D keeps a copy of the current scene in a working folder. On our test PC, Projects.json listed that copy as recovered even though nothing had been saved yet. It may then show up under Recovered projects.

If a recovered project appears, open it and save it with a proper name straight away. If nothing appears, check Step 3 for a working folder with a thumbnail of your scene.

A project you deleted in the app

Deleting a project inside Paint 3D is final. The app's own warning says: "Once you delete your project, it can't be undone." Only a backup made before the delete, or a copy under Previous Versions, can bring it back.

How to never lose a project again

• Save a named project, not just an image. Use Menu, Save as, Paint 3D project.
• Copy the Projects folder now and then, as in Step 2.
• Save a normal copy of finished work as well, such as a 3MF file or a PNG. Other apps can open those. Our guide on how to save in Paint 3D lists every format.
• Back up before uninstalling. Our guide to uninstalling Paint 3D includes that step.

FAQ

Spotted something that does not match your screen? Email [email protected].