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danielvy
danielvy
Participating Frequently
April 18, 2017
Question

"Could not edit original smart object because of a program error" (MacOS)

  • April 18, 2017
  • 5 replies
  • 4771 views

When trying to open embedded Illustrator document in Photoshop, I get the following error:

"Could not edit original smart object because of a program error"

MacOS 10.12.4 (problem occurred since at least 10.10), latest updated Adobe CC Photoshop/Illustrator.

Steps to reproduce:

  • In Illustrator, create .ai document and save it
  • In Photoshop, Create a new document
  • Drag the .ai file into Photoshop
  • Now when double clicking the smart object to open it in illustrator, the error occurs

Notes;

  • The file associations for .ai documents are set correctly, if I open the .ai from the finder, it opens in Illustrator as expected.
  • Can't find any errors in the system logs
  • If I create a new user on this machine, it works without a problem
  • Using lsregister command to clear the file association registry database doesn't help

This is frustrating. I searched everywhere, can't find any solution.

Anything else I can try? Any additional logs to check?

Thanks.

This topic has been closed for replies.

5 replies

M
ms.bridgette
Participant
July 30, 2018

Hi,

I had the same problem and was able to resolve it by shutting my computer all the way down and then restarting it.  Really simple solution for me, maybe its a different issue for you but I rarely fully shut my work computer down all the way.  I think the issue happens when illustrator updates and then photoshop doesn't know where to find it when it's opening a smart object.

Did you try turning it off and back on again? (couldn't resist)

danielvy
danielvyAuthor
Participating Frequently
May 9, 2017

Is there any way I can get support for this issue? It's been dragging for weeks.

Y
yaels48922246
Participant
May 3, 2017

Hi
Go to an illustrator file on your window, right click on properties and than in the "opens with" option select illustrator

danielvy
danielvyAuthor
Participating Frequently
May 9, 2017

Hi

Go to an illustrator file on your window, right click on properties and than in the "opens with" option select illustrator

Thanks for the suggestion but this isn't the problem. As I said, the file associations are set and the .ai files open properly in Illustrator.

Y
yaels48922246
Participant
May 3, 2017

Same thing happens to me once I've updated Photoshop and Illustrator to CC17@danielvy

Akash Sharma
Akash Sharma
Legend
April 18, 2017

Hi danielvy,

Open any .ai file from your OS explorer with Illustrator CC2015 and then your OS will record that .ai now open with it. After that you should be able to open smart object from photoshop. Also see Error: This item is not directly editable in Photoshop

Thanks,

Akash

danielvy
danielvyAuthor
Participating Frequently
April 18, 2017

Thank you for the reply.

As I already said in the original post, the file associations are set correctly. If I open the .ai file from the Finder, it opens in Illustrator normally. The error only happens when trying to open the .ai from Photoshop.

The topic that you linked to is not relevant to this issue. It is a different error and the solution doesn't solve the problem.

Cheers,

- Daniel

Akash Sharma
Akash Sharma
Legend
April 19, 2017

Please reset Photoshop preferences to default, See the steps to reset preferences here Preferences in Photoshop

~Akash

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