"Edit Menu in Photoshop" - just lost 2hrs of work

Question

Well, I clicked the "Edit Menu in Photoshop" option in Encore CS3 and reluctantly went to work on my menu in Photoshop since Encore doesn't have the basics of menu design options.
I saved my menu constantly in Photoshop, but didn't think to save it under a different filename since I figured it would save *something* to the hard disk anyway for me to find later.
I switched back to Encore and since nothing had changed there, I closed the project and thought re-opening might show me my updated menu. I was wrong.
I just lost two hours of work. I tried to open the "recently opened" file, but no, it was some sort of temp file that doesn't exist anymore.
Anyone have an idea of how to get this back? And how am I supposed to update my Encore menu so that it shows the Photoshop modifications?
Thanks
Prizm

Answer 1

Prizm4,
First thing that I'd do is Open PS, then File>Open Recent. You should see the TMP Menu file in that list, as it Opened from Encore. Open it, and see what state it is in. Ideally, it should be up to date, from when you did the Save.
As Joe points out, the TMP file is created by Encore, then Opened in PS. Save (or Ctrl-s) should save this file and link it back to Encore. In CS2, I encountered some problems (as did others), where hitting Save (and/or Ctrl-s) did NOT update in Encore. Remember, this was in CS2. The workaround for me was to Save several times (sounds like you did that). I'd usually have my Layer Sets open, and Ctrl-s, close the Layer Sets and Ctrl-s. Though it was a few added keystrokes and not the perfect workflow, it always worked for me. A few times, it took a moment for Encore to finally update to the revised file.
I assumed that this was a little glitch between PS and Encore2 in CS2. It also did not happen THAT often, but enough, that the multiple Ctrl-s became a habit of mine.
I never saw anyone, who could this this malfunction 100% of the time. I also did not find any commonality between systems (either HW, or SW conflicts) to indicate that some component was causing this. I also could not find much in MY workflow to suggest why some Menus did this. Most often they were variations of Library Menu Assets. I did notice that I had more of these glitches when working from a "template" Project, that only had AV Assets changed (Save_As Projects from the original "template.) and then the Menus changed to match the new Assets. Notice that I put "template" in quotation marks so one will not confuse Template with "template" in Encore. In my case, 95% of the Menus did just what they should going to/from PS out of Encore2. There were those pesky 5%, however that things did not go, as designed.
I would have assumed that CS3 had gotten around whatever was causing this, but as it was not 100% repeatable, maybe not.
When I'd go the "normal" Save route, and it would not "take," Opening the TMP (Files>Open Recent) always got me back in PS. Multiple Ctrl-s always did the trick. Seems that 3 was the magic number, when it was not working, as it should.
If you do a Save_As, you will have to Import_As Menu into Encore and then probably want to Delete your "other" Menu.
Might want to read through: http://www.adobeforums.com/webx/.3c05a3cd/0
Maybe something else will strike you as useful.
Good luck,
Hunt