Skip to main content
AlexVE
AlexVE
Participant
February 5, 2026

I received the error, Illustrator could only partially read this file, while opening a file

  • February 5, 2026
  • 3 replies
  • 107 views

Hi There, I

I’m having an issue with a big file worked on ai. and saved as a pdf.

When we want to open the file again in ai. the have the error message: “Illustrator could read partially this file,. We recovered as much of the file as possible, but some content might be missing. Open to view the recovered file.”

Then if we click on “Open”, the file become an image, and all of our layers, lines are flatten ->so not workable anymore. Do you from where this error can come? 

Thanks a lot for your help.

 

    3 replies

    B
    Community Expert
    Bobby HendersonCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    February 8, 2026

    Was the PDF file saved with the Preserve Illustrator Editing Capability option checked? That option is usually checked by default and should be if the file would be edited any further.

    If the file was saved to a cloud location or to another computer or server on a network it’s possible the connection might have glitched while the file was being saved.

    I’m used to seeing the “Illustrator could partially read this file” dialog box when I’m opening an .AI file exported by CorelDRAW. The v30 and v29 builds of Illustrator cannot open such files if they contain any live text objects. The Corel-generated .AI files have to be opened in a v28 build of Illustrator and re-saved so the current build of Illustrator can open the file. The problem is the v28 builds of Illustrator are no longer available to download. Unless the person opening such files is protecting a v28 install of Illustrator they’ll be completely out of luck. The people at Corel really need to do some quality control work on their Illustrator export filter. 

    I
    ilina5C05
    Participant
    February 11, 2026

    Hey, I have a file in cdr but i dont have the 28v of AI to open it. What else can I do? Or can you help me and open it on your end and save it to match a mroe recent version?

    B
    Community Expert
    Bobby HendersonCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    February 11, 2026

    I don't know if I could be of much help opening the file on my end. Fonts are often a big hang-up. Everyone has their own unique font collection.

     

    Illustrator can't open CorelDRAW CDR files directly, not unless the CDR files were made in Corel versions 5 thru 10, which date between 1994 and 2000. The current version and past few versions of CorelDRAW can't save back any farther than version X5 (2010). If Illustrator is going to have any CDR file import capability it would be nice if more recent versions were supported.

     

    The most work-able solution for moving artwork from CorelDRAW to Illustrator has been by using Corel's Illustrator AI export filter. With the new issue involving type objects the export process would take multiple steps.

     

    You could export one .AI file from CorelDRAW with all the type objects converted to outlines. That kind of file will still open in Illustrator. Watch out about objects with gradient fills that have any transparency. The fills will get rasterized in the exported .AI file. Transparency only works with flat fills. It's likely you'll have to create fresh new type objects on another layer and line them up over the outlined text objects.

     

    To get live type objects to come through in a second pass you could try saving a version of the file in PDF format using Corel's Publish to PDF filter. You might be able to get some of the type objects imported that way. Variable font objects won't work though. It's likely live type objects brought in via PDF may be broken apart in multiple pieces. Third party plugins like Vector First Aid can help stitch together broken type objects.

     

    Illustrator's Retype feature could help in this process, but it currently only identifies fonts in outlined type objects. Retype won't convert them into editable type objects (the beta version of the feature did do so).

     

    I would not select whole type objects in the CorelDRAW document, copy them to the clipboard and then paste them into the Illustrator document. The pasted type objects will have serious tracking and line spacing issues that can't be fixed. The Corel-generated AI files I can open in Illustrator 2024 will have bad line spacing problems. But I can usually correct that by opening a clean Illustrator document, making new "dummy" type objects with the same values, pasting them into the Corel-generated AI file and using the eyedropper tool to copy the values from the good type objects onto the bad ones. The approach doesn't work on type objects copied-pasted directly from CorelDRAW. Those objects are a mess. If you're going to copy text from a CorelDRAW document into Illustrator, use a plain text app like Notepad as a go-between.

    Monika Gause
    Community Expert
    Monika GauseCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    February 6, 2026

    Looks like only the PDF part of the file could be recovered.

     

    Where did you save the file?

    If not on the hard disk, that’s what you should always do first.

    Illustrator can have trouble saving to networks, Cloud services, thumb drives.

    On top of that: if “Save in background” is turned on in the preferences, turn it off.

     

    This will not improve your situation with that particular file though.

    kglad
    Community Expert
    kgladCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    February 5, 2026

    ​@AlexVE 

     

    use https://commonuity.adobe.com to find the illustrator forum and post your illustrator questions there.

      Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
      Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices