Check in the Navigation pane on the left side, if all projects are shown and no filter is active.

If there is no filter, make sure you are logged in Windows as the same user as yesterday. Check the Studio folder also for other users of your PC.

Make sure, all external drives and/or USB devices are connected.

To avoid such hassle in the future, store your projects in a folder of YOUR choice and do not let Studio do it for you. Obviously you need to learn something about files and folder management in Windows. Using the so called default folder which is situated in your Documents folder within the libraries is a very bad idea. This folder is located on the drive C: together with Windows and programs. It is much better to create own folder and file structure.

Hi Jerzy,

thanks a lot for your reply and your tips but it hasn't help much.

Navigation panel is set at "Show all projects"

I am logged as the same user as everyday.

Have no external drives/USB devices.

I don't use a default folder to store projects. I always indicate the path and they are automatically store in the cloud as well. When recovering the project from my security copy and trying to open it in Trados, Trados informed "You cannot open this project on Trados. You only are allowed to open single documents or packages" (translated from the German version of Trados).... PLEASE, I NEED A REAL SOLUTION NOW.

Kind regards

Isabel

This message says, that you have a Starter version of Studio. Do you have another license?

And sorry, but no one here will know where your projects are, you are the only one who knows your folders. Studio does not remove any files from anywhere by default, so the files/projects must be on your harddisk unless you deleted them accidentally.

Hi Jerzy,

yes, I have a license of Trados 2017.

As I could verify, there are other users having exactly the same problem and you still afirm "Studio does not remove any files from anywhere". Please, don't treat us as we were dupes and take this bug seriously. Trados is not precisely an affordable software and we deserve efficiency and a good service.

Hi Jerzy,

yes, I have a license of Trados 2017.

As I could verify, there are other users having exactly the same problem and you still afirm "Studio does not remove any files from anywhere". Please, don't treat us as we were dupes and take this bug seriously. Trados is not precisely an affordable software and we deserve efficiency and a good service.

Which kind of license do you have? The only license not allowing you to work with a project is Starter version. If you have a different license, check your activation.

In any case - your project does consist of several folders, one of these will be a folder with your target language. There will be one or more sdlxliff files. Copy these files to another folder and open them from there one by one, if your Studio allows you only to work with single files. This way you will have access to your translation and can generate target files for the delivery.

Should this project have been received as a package, please remove the project from the list if it is listed there. Then MOVE the project folder to another directory. This is crucial, as otherwise you could overwrite your files and lose the whole work. Then receive the package again. Now copy the files from the target folder of your MOVED project and paste them into the target directory of your newly received package to overwrite the files sitting there. Now your translated files are in the package folder and you can continue working ans nothing would have happened.

"Please, don't treat us as we were dupes and take this bug seriously. Trados is not precisely an affordable software and we deserve efficiency and a good service"

I am not an affiliate of SDL or an employee of this company. I am a user as yourself are and use Studio since the very beginning. I have never lost ANY files due to a bug in Studio, because there is NO such bug. If you do not want my help, I gladly go off this forum, as I have better things to do as dealing with people who do not have control on their files.

Hi Jerzy,

if you don't know more about Trados than I do, I appreciate your intentions but it doesn't help. For yout information, I have also worked with Trados full time for 10 years and it is the first time I am experiencing this kind of problem. I hope you the best and I hope you don't have to swallow your words in the future having suddenly the same problem...

Please remove your messages. I do need the help of a professional.

Hi Isabel M Martos Maldonado 

Regarding error message "You cannot open this project on Trados. You only are allowed to open single documents or packages"...

I do sometimes get that message when I've worked on a project on my second computer then transfer it back to my main PC.

If that happens, I create a new project and add all the components I was using in the project that cannot be opened.

Something else that may help you find your lost projects is that Studio always opens packages, for example, to the last place on your system that a package was opened. So if you've created a project for a different client for example since the project you've lost, take a look in that client's folder.

If this gets reset for example by a big Windows update, Studio will default to the SDL folders under My Documents, so for Studio 2019 that would be here:

The actual address is C:\Users\username\Documents\Studio 2019 replacing 'username' with your user name.

So, if you create a new project it'll be in the Projects folder. A new TM or termbase would be in the relevant folder.

If you've been using Studio for 10 years, you quite likely know all of this but there may be a fact in there that will help... I keep learning new things even now and have been using Studio and TagEditor before it for so many years I've lost count...

Hope this helps... If not, it may help someone with the same problem in the future...

All the best,

Ali

Dear Alison,

thanks a lot for your help! I will take it into account next time when I get that message.

Back to the disappeared files, I have opened the local SDL folder under my documents and I found something it could be related with all the mess Trados is creating with this project:

What do you think about those "Copy of PlugIns"? The time corresponds to the day and time the files disappeared from the project folder.

Apart from that, I have had for a long time the very same problem with TM: they duplicate themselves and add "Copy of XXX (name of the TM)" in the local folder. Then I have to access the Project settings to indicate the path again...

I could now recover the project I was working on. But I still would like to know what the matter is, just in case it happens again in the future with another project (it is the first time a project just disappear from its folder).

Kind regards and thanks a lot again,

Isabel

It looks like you have a problem with the bookmark plugin.

Does your Studio start properly? Where have you stored the files? How were you trying to open the project, which has been refused by Studio?

If you have the project files, why not simply create a new project with the sdlxliff files from the lost project?

And honestly, beside "I cannot find my project" you do not provide any useful information to track your issue. You did not answer my question, which kind of Studio license do you have. The only answer I got was an accusation I would treat you as someone dumb. If you want help, provide more information.

TMs should not duplicate themselves by a chance. What indeed happens is, that you get duplicates of TMs when you upgrade these. Are you possibly keeping the files in any cloud like Dropbox? In such case duplicates of TMs are created by the cloud software and not Studio.

"It looks like you have a problem with the bookmark plugin." Oh, really?

I have not provided any useful info (for you) and you have not set any clever question.

I would kindly ask you to stop replying. Thanks a lot anyway for your willingnes to help.

Isabel M Martos Maldonado 

You're making a mistake dismissing Jerzy's help...

Jerzy Czopik is one of the most knowledgeable users on the SDL Community. In his reply he is responding to the information you just gave me far better than I could. His knowledge is greater than mine. He is also the Number 1 Community Leader, which means he has helped more people than any other non-SDL user. 

Going back to your question regarding 'Copy of' etc., I cannot answer it. Jerzy has just done so and then he tried to further help you by asking you useful questions to help him better diagnose the problem. He was not insulting you, merely explaining that he's not trying to treat you as dumb.

He is not being difficult, either, he is being thorough. The misunderstanding is down to English being his and your second language.

Jerzy is a kind, intelligent, expert user of Studio and also an experienced trainer. He is better equipped than I to solve your issue. I was just adding a few details to see if they helped, I wasn't undermining his ability to help you.

Sorry to both of you that I confused matters 

All the best!

Ali 

Hi Alison,

thank you very much for your honest words. I also appreciate you defend Jerzy, it is a clear sign of team spirit.

Nevertheless, if he treats me as if I wouldn't know to manage files on my computer or just say and insists "trados doesn't delete any file", and it is exactly what occured, then he cannot help me. Maybe he is an experienced trainer and the best SDL user but surely he is not accepting there is a problem with Trados he doesn't know about.

In this Community another user reported the same problem some months ago and Jerzy just do the same: "trados doesn't delete any file". That doesn't help at all, sorry.

And if he needed more information, he should have just asked for it.

I could deliver my project now and just hope it is the first and the last time Trados just delete files from my computer and relocate them or duplicate them (I have just checked the project folder again and there is suddenly four copies of the project).

Kind regards and all the best for you too

Isabel

Isabel M Martos Maldonado 

You are mistaken. Jerzy is not treating you as if you wouldn't know how to manage files or saying that there can not be a problem with Studio that he doesn't know about. That is not what he meant in either case. Let me tell you a story and then I'll leave you in peace...

When I was a young mother, I helped run a playgroup for pre-school children. I had a tireless perfectly bilingual German friend who also helped and did way more useful stuff than I did. 

Because my friend had grown up with German parents, she spoke English in what appeared to be an overly-emphatic way. This was because she used German intonation rather than English and if an English person had used that tone of voice, they would have been being much more forceful than she actually was.

Many of the mothers coming to the group would be upset by her saying something that she meant to be kind. They felt she was being patronising, insulting or rude for example. This was a real shame because she did not mean to sound negative at all. She was not patronising, insulting or rude; she was an angel. They just didn't understand her tone of voice. I was too shy back then to do anything about it.

I have seen several instances of this on the SDL Community. I have once or twice tried to help people understand that it's happening so that they can stand back, just look at the facts and get the help they need without any upset . Life has enough reasons to be cross without creating new ones.

I suggest you run a Windows Repair on Studio after first making sure it and MultiTerm are up to date and the right version for each other. I won't insult you by giving you precise instructions how to do this...

If that doesn't work, reinstall Studio and if that doesn't work you can get direct help here

All the best,

Ali 

Edited...

Isabel M Martos Maldonado

I wonder if you are running any sort of back up, or security software, that might have caused this?  It's really strange that you are seeing all these duplicate files and even stranger that you seem to have lost projects.

Like Jerzy, and Alison, I don't think Studio has caused this.  But if course there is a first time for everything should we get to the bottom of this.  But I would not exclude the problems coming from somewhere else.