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Bob26027933cg9e
Participant
September 8, 2022
Answered

Trying to open illustrator 3.0 files saved as .txt

  • September 8, 2022
  • 2 replies
  • 1517 views

I have dozens of Illustrator files I made in 1990 with version 3.0.  These were originally made on a Mac, but then went through many years of storage in systems that were PC.  Now I work on Macs again.

 

When I pull up the old directories, I now see all the 3.0 files listed as .txt (interestingly, I have a few files also made in 1990 on Ilustrator 1.8, and these still have .ai tags)

 

The files with .txt do not open.  I have tried changing the file extension to .ai or .eps, but that does not work.  When I look at the files with a text editor, I see all the typical stuff, but I am not expert enough to recognize what might be missing.

 

Any suggestions?

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Ton Frederiks

Trying with different extension.


That seems to open fine when I change .eps to .ai.

2 replies

Larry G. Schneider
Community Expert
Larry G. SchneiderCommunity Expert
Community Expert
September 8, 2022

Can you post a pdf of the text of one of the files? I might be able to tell you something about the file.

B
Bob26027933cg9eAuthor
Participant
September 9, 2022

Here is one example.

Mike_Gondek10189183
Community Expert
Mike_Gondek10189183Community Expert
Community Expert
September 9, 2022

I copied your text from the pdf and using a text editor pasted into a sample .ai file (this adds the correct creator fork to the data fork) and got the below screenshot. pdf scrambles up the orignal text code adding returns and such. Got one path. Curious if you posted the original text how far would get.

 

    Kevin Stohlmeyer
    Community Expert
    Kevin StohlmeyerCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    September 8, 2022

    These files are most likey corrupted.

    An old issue was when a Mac file was transferred to a PC or emailed and it did not have the resouces to recognize the attachment/file the file was converted to a .txt file and corrupted.

    I don't know of any way to restore them from this state. The solution back then was to resend or store as a .zip container.

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