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Sarah Goone
Participant
December 19, 2019
Question

Illustrator CC flattened all of my layers into one when i reopened the AI file

  • December 19, 2019
  • 3 replies
  • 3504 views

I had an AI file with many layers (at least 80) that I saved, and then when I reopened it the next day, everything was compressed into just one layer. 

The only thing i could think may have affected this is that I exported a JPG of the file before closing the program. Maybe I had checked a box that caused it to flatten the AI file as well? 

 

There are also now clipping masks on all of the objects in my composition, which I definitely did not create. Any reason why this would happen? How can I prevent this from happening in the future? 

 

Thanks!

This topic has been closed for replies.

3 replies

silk-m
Community Expert
silk-mCommunity Expert
Community Expert
December 19, 2019

Hi,

Are 2020 and CC 2019 installed on the PC?
If the file is saved in 2020 format, the layer will be flattened when opened in CC 2019.
Did you get this warning when opening the file?

--Susumu Iwasaki
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Paige265475805xbu
Participant
October 11, 2022

I am having the same problem and I got that pop up aswell. Is there anyway to fix this? 

A
Community Manager
Anubhav MCommunity Manager
Community Manager
October 12, 2022

Hello @Paige265475805xbu,

 

Sorry to hear about this experience. Would you mind checking if you have multiple versions of Illustrator installed on your computer? If yes, kindly remove the older version and check if it helps.

 

If the issue persists, kindly share a few more details, like the exact version of the OS and Illustrator installed on your computer, so that we can investigate this further.

 

Looking forward to your response.

 

Thanks,

Anubhav

Monika Gause
Community Expert
Monika GauseCommunity Expert
Community Expert
December 19, 2019

This might happen when the file gets corrupted and only the PDF part of the file is still OK. Where has the file been saved?

THis might also be just some misbehaving of Illustrator (has happened with some version). Have you restarted the computer (a couple of times)? Rebuilt the preferences?Is this the latest version 24.0.1?

Mario Arizmendi
Mario Arizmendi
Legend
December 19, 2019

Are you sure you are not saved the file as pdf and without "preserve illustrator editing" capabilities unchecked?

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