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paulacz
Participating Frequently
December 17, 2022
Answered

Problem with opening AI files

  • December 17, 2022
  • 2 replies
  • 773 views

Hi, I'm having trouble opening AI files. Everything looks correct, proper extension, I even hover over it and it shows me the right attributes (type: Adobe Illustrator Artwork 15.1), but when I try to open it, I get the message: "The file is in an unknown format and cannot be opened". If it matters, these are files recovered from a crashed drive, some can be opened, some not, but none have an annotation that the file is corrupted. Old version of Illustrator (5.5) and those files were created using this version also. 

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Correct answer Anshul_Saini

Hi @paulacz,

 

Thanks for sharing the files. I checked both of them, and as we suspected, the files are overwritten with recovery software jargon. I've attached a screenshot comparison for reference between a valid Ai vs. a recovered file.

There is no illustrator data in the file to recover. I am afraid these files cannot be saved. 

 

Regards,

Anshul Saini

2 replies

Anshul_Saini
Community Manager
Anshul_SainiCommunity Manager
Community Manager
January 6, 2023

Hi @paulacz,

 

Sorry for the delayed response. I agree with Monika. The third-party recovery tool overwrites Illustrator file data with there own jargon. However, you may share the files with me here or via DM, and I will take a look at them.

 

Kindly update the discussion if you still need assistance with it. I'd be happy to help.

 

Thanks,
Anshul Saini

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paulaczAuthor
Participating Frequently
January 9, 2023

Hello, thank you very much for response - if it's not a problem it would be great if you could take a look at these files - I'll upload 1-3 to show the problem

Anshul_Saini
Community Manager
Anshul_SainiCommunity ManagerCorrect answer
Community Manager
January 10, 2023

Hi @paulacz,

 

Thanks for sharing the files. I checked both of them, and as we suspected, the files are overwritten with recovery software jargon. I've attached a screenshot comparison for reference between a valid Ai vs. a recovered file.

There is no illustrator data in the file to recover. I am afraid these files cannot be saved. 

 

Regards,

Anshul Saini

Monika Gause
Community Expert
Monika GauseCommunity Expert
Community Expert
December 17, 2022

Typical for recovered files. The recovery tools mess them up.

You can try if you can still open them in Acrobat in order to recover some more of them.

Also maybe @Anshul_Saini can help with some files. There is not a lot of hope, but maybe they can do it.

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    paulaczAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    December 17, 2022

    Thank you very much, I've tried with Acrobat but I've got a message that file is damaged 😕😕 

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