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AlanGilbertson
Community Expert
AlanGilbertsonCommunity Expert
Community Expert
May 20, 2012

P: Problem saving AI file after opening as Smart Object

  • May 20, 2012
  • 13 replies
  • 742 views

There is a disastrous File Save (mis)behavior when an AI file is opened using "File > Open As Smart Object".

When editing is complete, the expected behavior on Ctl-S or File > Save is for Photoshop to open the "Save As" dialog, as it does when e.g., a jpeg has been modified in such a way that it is no longer a valid jpeg.

What actually happens is that the PSD is saved over the AI file, using the same file name including the .AI extension. The result is an "AI file" that is actually a PSD. It opens in Illustrator as a raster image. The original AI file is gone. This is a disastrously bad bug.

The only workaround is to revert the Photoshop document to its Open state, open the Vector Smart Object (which is identical to the original AI file) and save THAT with the original file name, but this definitely is the wrong behavior in this situation. I'm amazed no-one has run into this earlier (including me); it's been in the program since at least CS5.

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    FeedbackCommunityMember
    Inspiring
    May 20, 2012
    Because it's a smart object file, you can always save the AI file embedded in the smart object.

    But I'm still not sure how you saved a PSD file with an AI extension: Photoshop doesn't allow you to save with an AI extension unless you manually replace the extension on the filename.

    And after opening an AI file as a smart object, the default file type is PDF (which can contain Photoshop layers) because the AI file really is PDF.
    If you change the file type to PSD, you get the PSD extension.

    So you placed an AI file in a PSD file, then saved the PSD file with an AI extension by mistake. Ok, just change the extension to PSD and keep using the file, and export the original AI file if you need to.
    AlanGilbertson
    Community Expert
    AlanGilbertsonCommunity ExpertAuthor
    Community Expert
    May 20, 2012
    Hi Chris,

    I saved AI out of Illustrator, not PSD. The PSD-with-an-AI-extension came out of Photoshop.

    That was distressingly easy: I hit Ctl-S, expecting the "Save As" dialog (since this was a new document, never saved). When I saw the AI thumbnail immediately update in Bridge I knew that something was dreadfully wrong. ("Dreadfully", because I had spent quite a bit of time on this logo file for a client, and had heavily modified three independent copies of the SO inside Photoshop, so the result was a very long way removed from the original 3 artboards with variations on the logo.)

    I checked into the issue in some detail, verifying that the "AI" file was no longer an AI file in fact (its three artboards were reduced to one tiny raster image when I opened it in Illustrator). I also checked 5.1 and 5.0 and verified the same behavior in both.

    When the Save As dialog is explicitly invoked in this situation, PS defaults to PDF as the file format, which would make some sense if "Save PDF Compatible File" is turned on in AI, which it is in this case.
    F
    FeedbackCommunityMember
    Inspiring
    May 20, 2012
    How did you save the AI file as PSD after it opened for editing in Illustrator?

    Or do you mean that you opened an AI file as a smart object, and saved the resulting Photoshop document but somehow you got the wrong file extension?
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