Have your beloved Digital Art Kit's Categories vanished after a computer upgrade or folder reorganization? You’re not alone. Categories in Artisan® can get lost when files are moved, renamed, or stored on a new device — but if you have a backup, they’re not gone forever!
This guide will walk you through how to recover your Categories using your backup files and a bit of technical know-how. If you’re uncomfortable navigating Windows File Explorer or editing system files, please read this article in full before starting, or ask someone experienced to help with this process.
Go here to watch the video tutorial and learn how to do it step by step.
🛑 Important Notes Before You Begin
- This is an advanced technique.
- Back up everything first.
- Categories are not stored in your kits — they are linked, not embedded data like Tags.
- One small path change can "break" your Categories.
- You'll be editing a file called KitFolders.xml to correct these broken paths.
Step 1: Back Up Everything
Before making any changes, back up your Artisan content.
If you use an online backup redundancy (such as Carbonite, Crashplan, Backblaze, etc) it's important to know that usually they don't back up system files. So you will need to be proactive about backing up certain folders on your computer. You should back up your FOREVER desktop software's content on at least a monthly basis and/or any time you make major changes. Here is a helpful guide to know what to back up and where you can find your content: Checklist for backing up Artisan
In the case of your art kit's Categories, you will want to find the location...
C:\Users\[YourUsername]\AppData*\Roaming\Forever\Artisan 6
(Replace "Artisan 6" with "Artisan 5" if using that version instead)
*The AppData folder is hidden by default. Learn how to view hidden folders here: View hidden files and folders in Windows
Back up this folder by copying it to your Documents folder (so your online backup redundancy can save it) or an external drive (so you can move it to a new computer). This ensures you can restore things at a later time if needed.
Step 2: Identify Your New Kit Location
Now that you have your backup, you will want to note where your art kits are. This is the location you want to permanently keep your kits for Artisan to see and use.
In this example, the kits were moved to the external D drive in a folder titled "Digital Art", also written out as D:\Digital Art.
Don't be confused by the external hard drive's name being Digital Scrapbooking - this specific external drive is dedicated to this single use so it has been named to reflect that.
Step 3: Retrieve your Old KitFolders.xml File
You will need access to the KitFolders.xml file from the backup created in step 1 - this has the full list of your Categories!
Copy this file to your new computer's Desktop for easy access.
Step 4: Open and Review the File
Go to your Desktop and right-click on the KitFolders.xml file, then choose to Open With > Notepad.
This Kit Folders document may look a little scary at first, but is very easy to break down to know what to look for! Here's an example showing both a commercial and a personal art kit ("All Things January Mixology" and "Snowmen Clipart", respectively) within the same Category (titled "Season of Winter").
- The RootFolder is to tell Artisan where to start looking for the Category list.
- You'll see several Folder Name which breaks apart each Category you have created.
- The Package ID to clarify the location of the kit so the category knows what to display.
For the purposes of recovering your Categories, you will want to focus on what comes after the Package ID listed in the document. Jot down the kit's location listed before the kit name(s). In this example it would be "C:\Users\Public\Documents\Commercial Art Kits\" and "C:\Users\nschuster\Documents\Personal Art Kits\".
Step 5: Replace Old Paths with New Ones
Within the opened Notepad document, at the top click Edit > Replace. In the pop-up window...
- Find what: this is where you place the old location you jotted down from step 4.
- Replace with: type the new location you got from step 2.
💡 Tip: Make sure to check there are no spaces or additional text in these areas - an inaccurate link will cause your categories to not load!
Once you've double-checked, you can click Replace All.
If you have more separate kit folders, please repeat this step for each of them to get from the old to the new location. Once finished make sure to click File > Save in the upper left.
Step 6: Replace the Current File
On your (new) computer, with Artisan closed:
- Copy the KitFolders.xml backup file you just edited and saved from the previous step.
- Open File Explorer and go to...
C:\Users\[YourUsername]\AppData*\Roaming\Forever\Artisan 6
(Replace "Artisan 6" with "Artisan 5" if using that version instead)
*The AppData folder is hidden by default. Learn how to view hidden folders here: View hidden files and folders in Windows - Paste the edited backup in the Artisan folder.
- If will ask if you want to overwrite the existing file - YES.
- Open Artisan and go to your Content Manager to see your Categories have returned.
>If they have - AWESOME! Save the edited version as your new backup for this file.
>If not, go back to "Step 2: Identify Your New Kit Location" and start the process again.
❗ Still Not Working?
No worries — reach out for help!
- Email the pixel2Pages Team: pixel2pages@forever.com
- Or contact FOREVER® Client Care: support@forever.com