If you have installed the newest version of Papyrus Author, but you still can’t open your files, your computer is still trying to start the old version of Papyrus Author.

The easiest way to avoid this is to uninstall the old Papyrus Author installation. Here are guides how to uninstall a program:

For Windows: Uninstall or remove apps and programs in Windows 10 
For macOS: How to delete apps on your Mac

The default saving location is in your user folder. If you’re searching for documents on your computer, you can identify Papyrus Author files from their .pap extensions.  You can view the default save location by navigating ‘Options’ → ‘Preferences’ → ‘Paths’ in Papyrus Author’s toolbar.

Documents are saved on your computer’s hard drive, and are by default saved separately from the Papyrus Author software, so it’s safe to reinstall and update the software. We advise to never save your documents directly in the Papyrus Author installation folder. 

Papyrus Author saves your work as separate files outside of  the software. We recommend saving all work outside of Papyrus Author installation folder, and advise taking a backup copy of your work whenever you’re about to make any changes to your computer.

We also recommend taking frequent backups of your project, and saving the backups on different drives if possible. To learn more more, watch the following tutorial video on Papyrus Author’s backup features and safe ways to handle documents: Backups: Saving with Incremental & Automatic Backups