Visual Studio Code unsaved files location

Question

Does anyone know where VS code saves unsaved files on a Windows machine?

I have found many discussions about this features, but they don't mention where the files are actually saved.

Burgi · Accepted Answer · 2022-03-14T17:08:33.823

61

The Microsoft help file indicates that the settings are stored in the folder:

Windows - %APPDATA%\Code\User\

For me this translated to:

C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Code\

In this folder I located a Backups folder, this folder contained the raw data for my document. This appears to be grouped by date stored as a UNIX timestamp.

edited Mar 14 '22 at 17:08

answered Jul 04 '17 at 08:10

Burgi

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Thanks! On OS X there is a similar folder in ~/Library/Application Support/Code/Backup where my text files were hiding out. – Alper Aug 31 '17 at 10:36
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What about Linux? – Colliot Apr 22 '18 at 09:34
I don't have a Linux installation to test on unfortunately. However I would guess it is located somewhere in the `/home` folder. – Burgi Apr 22 '18 at 14:19
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On my Chromebook Linux, I found it in `~/.config/Code/Backups/...` – apex Oct 02 '18 at 12:22
Thank you. I was unable to find the workspace instance my `untitled` document was created through trial and error; using the Backups folder I found it by date in a matter of seconds and my unsaved work was all there! – Aaron Nov 22 '19 at 00:18
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For those of readers using Azure Data Studio, the path is very nearly the same. Substitute `azuredatastudio` for `code` in the searched path. – Josh Gust Aug 11 '21 at 16:03
here are the official docs: https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/editor/codebasics#_hot-exit – Kay V Mar 12 '22 at 17:33
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you saved my f**king life – flyingpluto7 Sep 27 '22 at 00:42

score 31 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 10 '19 at 16:32

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For Linux users they are found at ~/.config/Code/Backups.

answered Feb 10 '19 at 16:32

Alex

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`~/.config/Code - OSS/Backups` and `~/.config/Code - Insiders/Backups` for the open source version and the Insiders version, respectively. – Marc.2377 Jun 29 '19 at 01:49
the opensource version folder might have changed: I found it at `~/.config/VSCodium/Backups` – maxlath Oct 10 '20 at 10:13

score 21 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 08 '20 at 05:44

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For Visual Studio Code on macOS, these files are found at:

~/Library/Application Support/Code/Backups

Insiders on macOS:

~/Library/Application Support/Code - Insiders/Backups

OSS on macOS:

~/Library/Application Support/Code - OSS/Backups

answered Jun 08 '20 at 05:44

evan.bovie

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awesome, ~/Library/Application\ Support/Code/Backups is the path – kisna Mar 12 '21 at 01:09
As an example on OSX for Azure Studio (which is based on VS): ~/Library/Application Support/azuredatastudio/Backups/1623786046143/file/6be3cd5e7e4dd5b8f863e42c7ceef3e – Joshua Goldberg Jun 18 '21 at 14:30
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thank you so much! My vscode app kept opening an old file that I had deleted that was a 2gb+ sql file! It kept crashing and I was locked out of my code base until I deleted the backup! – Matt Wyndham Jul 27 '22 at 21:02

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Mar 19 '21 at 11:03

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If you use scoop on Windows to manage your (portable) vscode installation, the backup path you're looking for is

%USERPROFILE%\scoop\persist\vscode-portable\data\user-data\backups

answered Mar 19 '21 at 11:03

shambulator

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score -1 · Answer 5 · answered Sep 27 '22 at 08:02

If all else fails, you may find part or all of your unsaved content in the following location:

C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Code\User\History

I accidentally permanently deleted a file from my disk that didn't have any backup. Even tried those 3rd-party undelete tools, but couldn't find the file. Then I found this post and tried to locate an unsaved version, but there was none. Then just cruising through the directories I found location and therein was my content waiting to be discovered.

Note that VSCode uses hashed file names and there may be lots of subfolders in this location, so a manual find might be tedious. Instead you can open the entire History folder in VSCode (Open Folder command) and then use global text search to find your file(s). Also note that it stores several copies of each file over time, so u may want to cruise through found files to get the latest version.

This is the same as the accepted answer – Burgi Jul 19 '23 at 11:42 — Burgi, Jul 19 '23 at 11:42

score -2 · Answer 6 · answered May 18 '21 at 08:15

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Windows, Visual Studio 2019:

%localappdata%\Microsoft\VisualStudio\BackupFiles

answered May 18 '21 at 08:15

simaglei

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The OP was specifically asking about VS Code rather than the full Visual Studio. – Burgi May 18 '21 at 11:57

Visual Studio Code unsaved files location

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