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Level 2
posted Oct 12, 2022 7:37:38 PM

TurboTax crashed, lost all my info

I was in the middle of inputting charitable donations (nearly finished with my return) when TurboTax crashed (just shut down silently). I opened my tax file again, and it's starting me from scratch again. I really don't want to have to enter everything again. How can I find all the info I've put in already? This is TurboTax 2021 on desktop. I'm using an iMac running iOS 10.15.7 (Catalina). I appreciate any help you can give.

0 5 1085
5 Replies
Level 15
Oct 12, 2022 9:10:33 PM
Level 2
Oct 15, 2022 8:16:59 AM

I called support (they had been closed when I called initially, though their message indicated that they should still be open until 9 PM PDT). They could not help me recover my info. I just have to add it all in again.

Level 15
Oct 15, 2022 9:21:27 AM

I don't know for Mac but on Windows If you don't have the main .tax file you might have one that starts with a Tilde sign ~ like "~your name.tax2021". That file is if your computer crashes or your real file gets lost or deleted or corrupt so you can restore it.

 

Level 1
Feb 16, 2025 1:36:22 AM

This happened to me just now. A possible salve: if you're on a Mac, search in Finder for a .tax2024 file (or .tax[YYYY] for whatever year it currently is). I found an autosaved .tax2024 file from a few minutes before the crash and was able to open it and resume from where I'd left off. Of course, as soon as I reopened it I saved it, named it, moved it to a real folder on my system, etc.

 

Hope this helps!

New Member
Apr 14, 2025 10:47:24 PM

you just saved my life.  I spent 11 hours doing everything in one day for business taxes and it just froze up at the final save...  I combed my files for a temp file or anything that meant I wouldn't have to restart.  Your tip worked.  I'm very grateful.