Where Does Blender Store Autosaves and Recovery Files?
Blender writes autosaves (_autosave.blend) and quit.blend to its temp folder, keeps .blend1 backups beside saves, and renders to the Output path set in Properties.
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Blender recovery runs through the temp folder, not the config folder from the setup post. Autosaves land there as _autosave.blend files, normal quits leave quit.blend, and renders use the Output path from Properties. The temp location itself is a preference defaulting to system temp.
Two quieter safety nets help too. Every manual save keeps the previous version as .blend1 beside the file, so recent mistakes undo with a rename. Session files in temp vanish on reboot or cleanup runs, which is why recovery is a now task rather than a later one.
Where Blender stores this, by platform
%TEMP%
Default temp home for _autosave.blend and quit.blend. Override in Preferences File Paths. Cleaners wipe this folder, so recover before rebooting.
/tmp
Same role as Windows temp for autosaves and session files. Reach it in Finder with Go to Folder. Set a custom temp path in Preferences for safety.
/tmp
System temp for autosaves unless Preferences points elsewhere. Check ls -lt to find the newest _autosave.blend. Tmp cleaners on reboot remove these.
Frequently asked questions
How do I recover an unsaved Blender crash?
Open Blender and use File, Recover, Auto Save, which jumps to the temp folder listing timestamped _autosave.blend files. Open the newest, then Save As immediately. Only one autosave per project is kept, so act before the next interval overwrites it.
How do I change where Blender autosaves?
Change it in Preferences, File Paths, Temporary Files. Otherwise Blender uses TEMP on Windows and /tmp elsewhere, both of which cleaners and reboots can empty. A custom folder on a roomy drive survives both.
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