Hi-
The auto-save function in LayOut works like this:
A LayOut file is secretly a .zip file. When a file is opened it is unzipped into a temporary directory, and then read into memory so it can be edited. When an auto-save happens, all of the in-memory changes are saved back into the temporary directory. (When a manual save happens, there’s an additional step where this updated temporary directory is zipped up and copied to wherever the file should be saved.)
When LayOut closes normally, the temporary directories created during that particular run are cleaned up. If LayOut crashes, the temporary directories aren’t cleaned up - and this is how we find “recovered files”. On my machine, these temporary directories are located in:
“/var/folders/x4/q40x3v7d23j7d3vywjt6cb65mkwh3m/T/com.sketchup.LayOut.2015.mdurant/”
and have names such as
LAYOUT.VT4ZF0
If you want to test the auto-save functionality, open an existing file, make a change, and then wait for auto-save to fire. (You’ll see an “Auto save successful” message in the status bar when this happens). Now do a “Force-Quit” on LayOut to simulate a crash. Re-open LayOut and go to File->New to bring up the file dialog. I would expect to see a new entry in the “Recovered Files” tab containing the change you made.