Photoshop Auto-Save temporary file disposition on network shares

Photoshop Auto-Save is designed to preserve editing state, yet its behavior when the target document resides on a network share is not formally specified. The software must determine whether to stage a temporary Auto-Save copy in a local temp folder before relocating it to the remote path, or to write directly to the network location. This decision point governs data availability when connectivity fluctuates. The precise goal of this inquiry is to identify the default write strategy for Auto-Save on network-backed PSD files and to document the circumstances under which temporary copies may remain incomplete or orphaned.

Documentation provides no explicit guidance on the staging path, and the user interface offers no option to redirect or force a direct write. Observed variability across operating systems, file sizes, and network conditions suggests that the implementation may depend on transient factors such as latency, share availability, and temp-folder permissions. Large PSD files and intermittent connections, such as those through VPNs or cloud-sync services, appear to amplify the discrepancy, but the underlying cause remains undetermined.

Under what conditions does Photoshop retain the Auto-Save temporary file locally instead of completing the remote write? Does the post-crash recovery prompt reference a staging copy, and if so, what is the fidelity of its layer and mask data? Can the inconsistency be linked to file size, network protocol, or operating-system temp-folder handling?