How to recover missing drawings from Sketchbook Gallery for mobile devices

Autodesk Support

Dec 1, 2023

Products and versions covered

Issue:

Files have been lost after updating or deleting SketchBook on mobile device. The Sketchbook gallery shows no files (empty).

Solution:

Recovering Sketchbook sketches

For iOS devices, use the following methods:
  1. Restore the Preferences in the settings:
    1. Select Settings.
    2. Scroll down to Sketchbook.
    3. Toggle Restore Preferences.
  2. Use a second device to backup files using the iMazing app: 
    1. Find another device (iPad).
    2. Download the iMazing app.
  1. Back up Sketchbook on the second device.  This will also back up sketches.
  2. Use iMazing to put Sketchbook on the second device
  3. Sketches should show up in Gallery.
  4. In the original device, delete the Sketchbook App and reinstall.
For Android devices, use the following methods:

Note: For Android, the the sketches are stored in the /Autodesk/SketchBook3 folder (not stored in the cloud).
  1. Manually email the .tiff file or connect to a desktop computer and move it from the Android device.
  2. Re-import the file back onto the Android device:


Backing up Sketches manually 

All sketches are local to the device. These files would need to be manually backed up by following these steps:

For Android

Copy the files from /Autodesk/SketchBook3 and copy it to a desktop computer. The desktop version of SketchBook can be used to complete any work.

Note: In the article, see how to import Sketchbook files from an older version into the latest version of Sketchbook for Android.


For iOS

The best method is to use the iCloud, for more information regarding iCloud see the following articles.


Saving versions of a file

Save versions of the file as to avoid losing progress may also help. To save a copy or version a file on the Mobile platform follow these steps:

  1. Open the Sketchbook application.
  2. Navigate to the Gallery and start a new sketch - it will ask to save the file.
  3. Open the first Sketch and edit it.
  4. Navigate to the Gallery, select start new sketch and choose the "Save as a Copy" option.

Note: If a factory restore has been done, the /Autodesk folder would have been deleted and therefore the sketches would have also been deleted.

Products:

SketchBook Pro;

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