help! how to un-merge layers after saving document

[emmam50010460]

I've been working on a photoshop design with lots of layers. I merged them and saved it as a jpg in order to email it to someone. I thought I'd saved it as a separate document but it looks like I've simply merged all the layers and now it's just a small jpeg. is there any way to restore the layers and get it back to a photoshop document?!

[mark@headTrix]

Oh no... in the future when you have the layers and want to save a JPEG just go to File>Save as> JPEG which saves a copy, or File>Export>Save For Web.

Both of these options keep your layers which you need to make changes.

Your only hope is that the file is still open, and was NOT closed, and you can go backward with Command>Option>Z (control>alt>z on PC) or go to your History Panel (Window>History) where you can back up to an earlier point in the file.

Good luck! Hope this helps!

mark

[Wonder34308896ucr5]

Hey did you find help? 

[c.pfaffenbichler]

@Wonder34308896ucr5 , if you have a Photoshop-problem please read this (in particular the section titled "Supply pertinent information for more timely and effective answers”):
https://community.adobe.com/t5/using-the-community/community-how-to-guide-tips-amp-best-practices/td...

Do you have any backup-system in place (like Mac’s TimeMachine or …)? Edit: So you may access a previous, unflattened version of the image. 

What exactly did you do to the layered image? 

[c.pfaffenbichler · Accepted solution]

In case a layered image has been flattened (and possibly further damaged by applying lossy compression) and no previous version is available anymore (either in Photohsop’s History, if the file has not been closed yet, or as a back-up) the original Layers are destroyed. 

And one can, to put it a bit pompously, get them back no more than one can get a grain of wheat back out of a cake (unless in very specific cases, basically simple graphic designs). 

It may be possible to re-select/clip the pertinent elements, neutralize the edges, fill obstructed backgrounds with Generative Fill or Content-Aware Fill etc. and depending on the subjects and needs this may suffice but the actual original and destroyed content remains gone. 

If Type Layers have been destroyed Illustrator’s Window > Retype (Beta) might prove helpful. 

Please pot screenshots including the pertinent Panels or the image itself to clarify the situation. 

[D Fosse]

This was just up in another thread.

When you save a layered file as jpeg, a copy is saved out. The layered file is still open and unsaved. You must save the layered original separately from the jpeg copy - if you just close it, it's lost.