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MartinBelfast
MartinBelfast
Participating Frequently
March 4, 2020
Answered

Illustrator could partially read this file

  • March 4, 2020
  • 28 replies
  • 81322 views

Hi, I have been experiencing issues when opening .ai files. I think the problems started after the last update. I get a message saying 'Illustrator could partially read this file'. When the file opens I only see one artboard with the content broken apart, similar to what you would see if you opened a .pdf in Illustrator.

 

I have tried installing a previous version and then going back to the latest version but it does not correct the problem. I have copied files to my hard drive and tried to place files into a new file but nothing gets me back my full file.

 

There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the file as I have just installed a trial version of Affinity Designer and my .ai files open without any issues. I really need to find a solution otherwwise I will probably have to go with Affinity Designer to open my files. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

    Correct answer jonathans7692740

    Just installed new update, worked.

    Almost died i tought for a couple of minutes that i had lost 5 monts of work!

    Thanks

    Jonathan Severin

    @BetterforAll_skull on twitter

    28 replies

    Show previous replies
    K
    kocnut
    Participant
    February 1, 2022

    I am having same issue with my Illustrator. It ıs so frustrating because I am working with multiple artboards I mean lot of them. Like 150-170 artboards. Some moments when I need to finish it till deadline, it happens. So I changed file name, change the location and it works like original file. But don't name it with same or overwrite it. Maybe this is a shortcut solution but I hope it saves you.

      N
      Neopod
      Participating Frequently
      January 14, 2022

      This currently happens to one in five of my artwork files.

      When you see the warning dialogue, simply click Cancel, open the file again and most times it opens without the issue. Using v26.0.2

        Samolevsky
        Samolevsky
        Participating Frequently
        January 14, 2022

        That worked on v26.0.2! Thank you so much.Your help has been invaluable.

         
        gilderpants
        gilderpants
        Participant
        January 4, 2022

        This is ridiculous. Adobe, you should be ashamed. When doing updates, stop trying to fix things that aren't problems and focus instead on making illustator stable and fast.

         

        It seems like irresponsible updates are rushed out the door by you guys without proper vetting and testing to ensure their stability. Every update it seems theres some innane new altering of the workflow that gets in the way of progress and efficiency. On one occasion a couple years ago, a basic copy keystroke was changed to be the opposite of what it has been for years!!

         

        Come on guys. You're hurting our efficency and negatively affecting our income becasue we have to spend time here trying to figure out a work-around to things you've screwed up. 

          P
          puresprings
          Participating Frequently
          January 6, 2022

          I'm having the same issue with larger files, I'm getting hit very often with "this file will only partially open". Just started over the last few days. It's killing my productivity. 

          Anshul_Saini
          Community Manager
          Anshul_SainiCommunity Manager
          Community Manager
          January 6, 2022

          Hi @quatroquattro @puresprings @gilderpants,

           

          We are sorry about the trouble. I would request you to update Illustrator to v26.0.2. We have tried to address this issue in this release. If you don't see this update, you may manually check for updates in the Creative Cloud desktop app.

           

          If, after updating to v26.0.2, you are still facing this issue, then I would request you to leave a comment on this UserVoice (https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447-illustrator-desktop-bugs/suggestions/43974972-illustrator-beta-v26-causes-illustrator-could-p#{toggle_previous_statuses}) and share the document with us in which you are facing this issue. You can upload it to the Creative Cloud/ Dropbox/ Google Drive or any other similar service and share the download link here or via DM. We will check it at our end, which will help investigate the issue further.

           

          Thanks & Regards,

          Anshul Saini

          quatroquattro
          quatroquattro
          Participating Frequently
          January 3, 2022

          Having the same issue. All adobe recommends is to downgrade my program but I can't see how this would solve the issue if the original file was created in the current version of illustrator?

          Not sure what's worse, the fact that Adobe has never provided a consistently working program or the fact that I still pay them $400+ every year.

            Dave Creamer of IDEAS
            Community Expert
            Dave Creamer of IDEASCommunity Expert
            Community Expert
            January 3, 2022

            >>All adobe recommends is to downgrade my program but I can't see how this would solve the issue if the original file was created in the current version of illustrator?

             

            Illustrator will "complain" but it will usually open newer file versions.

            David Creamer: Community Expert (ACI and ACE 1995-2023)
            ryanf67604513
            ryanf67604513
            Participant
            December 14, 2021

            I've been having the same issue. This may sound dumb, but I've always been able to open the file again after basically trying to open it every which way. For instance, sometimes I'll right click the file and select 'open in illustrator', other times I'll double click the file, lastly (which just worked for me about 5 minutes ago) was clicking on the preview of the file in the Illustrator Home screen. I'd say 8 or 9 tries and it'll just finally open. I figured it was a bug, but at least I'm not alone. 

            Anshul_Saini
            Community Manager
            Anshul_SainiCommunity Manager
            Community Manager
            December 31, 2021

            Hi @ryanf67604513,

             

            We are sorry about the trouble. I would request you to update to v26.0.2. We have tried to address this issue in this release. If you don't see this update, you may manually check for updates in the Creative Cloud desktop app. Let us know how it goes.

             

            Thanks & Regards,

            Anshul Saini

             

            S
            sarao4455805
            Participating Frequently
            October 13, 2021

            I found a solution that worked for me... clearing Illustrator preferences. Hold down SHIFT+OPTION+COMMAND while launching Illustrator, then do a file open (will no longer show recents) of your document. Worked like a charm with two 300GB documents that were giving me this issue and were opening flattened, pages missing, etc. as you described.

            K
            Kārlis
            Participating Frequently
            October 14, 2021

            Just change scratch disk in illustrator preferences to another disk... no need to reset preferences... works every time (for me)

            W
            Wilson Faustino
            Inspiring
            July 19, 2021

            Any real solution to that? I'm having the same issue and Creative Cloud doesn't allow me to install any version below 24.3. Any help would be very appreciated.

            K
            Kārlis
            Participating Frequently
            July 20, 2021

            Hi, read my comment above yours... just turn off the secondary scratch disk... 

            W
            Wilson Faustino
            Inspiring
            July 20, 2021

            Hi. Thank you for your answer, but my secondary scratch disk is already set to none. 😞

            Strangely, Adobe did not make any fix to it yet.

            K
            Kārlis
            Participating Frequently
            July 9, 2021

            Hello
            The same issue just appeared on my mac with the latest illustrator...
            What worked was: i uninstalled illustrator and clicked remove preferences..
            my file that previously didn't open..  now it worked just fine!
            then i started to set my preferences.. and file was corrupt again..

            I found out that problem was in scratch disks, when i choose a secondary scratch disk - some of my big files don't open and the illustrator says that he cant recover.. if i select NONE at secondary scratch disk - Files open just fine!

            K
            Kārlis
            Participating Frequently
            July 26, 2021

            UPDATE
            It's definitely some error with swap/temp files and scratch disks.

            For few weeks everything was ok (without secondary scratch disk) but then one-day the same error showed agin.. for same file that was ok yesterday.

            Copied that file to other computer, and it opened just fine.

            (for me this error is only for large complicated files, small documents open just fine)

            So I changed Primary scratch disk to another disk and again everything is OK

             

            S
            Sabrina5C1C
            Participant
            April 16, 2021

            So I use Clean My Mac software so I did this and it worked! 

            Open Clean My Mac

            Click "Uninstaller"

            Scroll down to Illustrtor click it

            It presents a drop down that says "uninstaller" or "reset"

            I clicked "reset" 

            Worked right away and it's quicker than uninstalling it and reinstalling it !

             

            Hope this helps

              P
              Parent230581727cdo
              Participant
              February 8, 2022

              THANK YOU SABRINA YOU SAVED MY LIFE ! IT WORKED RIGHT AWAY ON MY IMAC. GOD BLESS YOU HAHAHA

                E
                emileem23799572
                Participant
                March 9, 2021

                I'm experiencing this on just one file I created today, but this version of Illustrator will open all my other files? I'm running on an iMac mid-2011 (I know lol, not my choice) and I can't upgrade to anything above 10.13 so the latest version of Illustrator isn't supported and Adobe is only giving me the option to go as far back as 24.3

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