Oh my fucking god you guys. I made an INCREDIBLY STUPID MISTAKE! I was working on my (still unnamed!) comic trying out a couple of new fonts I created and comparing them to each other and the hand lettering I had been doing. So basically in my latest comic there were 4 word balloons, the first with the original hand lettering and the other three with my new fonts. I was working in 300 dpi but shrunk it down to web size to save as a png so I could get some second opinions. Well, I’m in the habit of saving often, maybe too often, so after I get my web sized png I accidently save the pdf at the much lower resolution too and before realizing I close the file. 

Just as I realize what I have done I go to open up the pdf and sure enough, its at web resolution. I can’t go back into history because I closed the file and reopened, there is no history yet! I have completely lost my high resolution file and hours of work. HOURS. UGH So yeah I was freaking out a little. :(

Well, after calming down for a moment I google frantically and come across Shadow Explorer. Apparently Windows 7 and Vista create shadow copies of your files periodically but only some versions of Professional or Business have the ability to go into the shadow copies and pull up old versions of your saves. I have Vista Home so I don’t have that luxury. Luckily with Shadow Explorer anyone with any version of Vista or 7 can restore from shadow copies so while my comics pdf was overwritten, ruined and unsalvageable through Photoshop (that I know of anyway) with Shadow Explorer I was able to go back to last night’s version of my pdf and restore my high res pdf from the shadow copy. Crisis averted. Super huge sigh of relief! 

Anyway I’m so super grateful I was able to find this program, I didn’t even know it existed until tonight so I just had to share in case any one else ever finds themselves in this situation. It can restore corrupted or overwritten saves from earlier versions (assuming you have an earlier save of course). If you are prone to stupid mistakes like I apparently am then I suggest you check it out, couldn’t hurt to have in case you accidentally over write important files!  Shadow Explorer!