when reopening saved AI file layers are missing

Question

Hi, last night I saved an illustrator v24.1.1 file with 8-9 layers on it. When I reopened the file this morning to continue working on it there was only one layer! What do I do?

Anshul_Saini · Accepted Answer

Hi Anshul, the file is located on an external drive. Here's the path: O:\Hoot Owl Media\HOM Graphics

Regarding layers, unless there's a way to make them completely invisible from the layers panel with a trick to revealing them, (like finding "Library" on a Mac OS) there doesn't seem to be anything other than the two layers that form the background. Please let me know if that's possible.

I imagine that the final save was somehow corrupted, considering the thumbnail is still accurate. I didn't establish a version history in CC so I might be dead in the water. At least it wasn't paid work for a client and was simply me messing around for too long. I turned off "Save in Background" as @Monika Gause suggested (thanks!) as that seems to be the most logical explanation, and hopefully it doesn't happen again.

I'm primarily a video editor so my due diligance of protecting project files is a bit lacking in Illustrator. I've been incredibly impressed at it's recovery if it crashes, so I thought I was more or less safe. But it didn't crash, so no recovery was prompted. I am wondering why it doesn't have an autosave vault locally and instead relying on CC for a version history. Anybody have insight on that?

Anyways, thanks for all your help everyone! I always find this community helpful and responsive, but I guess we can't win them all!

-Garrett

Thanks for providing the path to the external drive where the file was located, @Garrett5F94. However, I must inform you that using external and network drives to save Illustrator files is not recommended or supported by Adobe due to unknown variables that can lead to data loss, as you have experienced (https://helpx.adobe.com/in/illustrator/kb/illustrator-support-networks-removable-media.html). It's best to save your files locally on your computer's hard drive and then move it to external or network drives.

Regarding your question about making layers utterly invisible from the Layers panel, there isn't a way to do or undo that. If the layers are entirely missing from the Layers panel, they were somehow lost or corrupted during the save process.

Also, regarding your comment about Illustrator's autosave feature, it's important to note that the program does have an autosave feature that saves a backup of your document at a specified interval. However, these backup files are stored locally on your computer and act as recovery files, not history versions like in cloud documents. Additionally, the feature is not a replacement for regular saving, so saving your work manually as you go is still essential.

I hope this information is helpful to you. If you have any further questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out.

Best,

Anshul Saini

Note: Marking correct for visibility.

Garrett5F94 · Answer

This just happened to me last night. I think about 9 layers. Illustrator was acting a bit buggy, occassionally freezing up (not responding) for a few seconds, but it was a very large artboard with large assets, so I figured I was bogging down my system. Saved fine that night, no crash. I reopen it in the morning and there's only two layers that comprise a background and everything else is gone. Illustrator acts fine like nothing is wrong. Here's the kicker. When I open just Illustrator and no project file, I can see my recent projects. The bugged project file thumbnail shows the missing layers! But alas, when opening it I get the same result... Is there anything I can do to try fix this?

Sign up

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Sign in to Adobe Community

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Scanning file for viruses.

This file cannot be downloaded