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RyanScammell
Inspiring
October 15, 2023
Answered

Can't Save File in After Effects 2024

  • October 15, 2023
  • 2 replies
  • 1988 views

I've started a new thread here for the issue in 2024 but if you look back this issue arose in 2020, 2021, 2022. It is probably the most catastrophic bug you can run into and I'm stunned that something this significant can still happen. After hours of work today I could not get my file to save no matter what I tried.

 

I tried save, save as, save incremental. Nothing. I tried exporting to old formats, no good. I tried collecting files, nothing. I tried saving to different folders, tried saving to different names, saving to desktop, nothing. Tried checking auto-save -- nope, just the original file.  I tried exporting to XML, nothing.  I cleared cache, tried to trash preferences, still couldn't save.  

 

I would have tried a workaround some folks suggested of sending the comp to media encoder and then finding the temp project in the media encoder folder, except I couldn't get anything to export to media encoder either. (Which is a separate if connected issue I'm also having.)

 

I have no solves to offer, the work is lost, so it goes. 

 

I uninstalled AE and reinstalled and it's working appropriately now, 

 

(Windows 11)

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer RyanScammell

    Hi all,

     

    I was able to solve the issue. Today the same problem cropped up on my employee's machine. He was working on AE 2023 but it was the same file that I had the problem with.  That made me think it wasn't an issue of the After Effects version but instead something in the file itself that was causing the issue. I went through methodically removing comps (starting with large blocks of comps) reducing the project and seeing if I could save incremental.  Eventually I was able to find a block of comps that when they were deleted and I subsequently reduced the project (to remove any files associated with them -- this is key), I was able to save incremental.  From there I  understood something in these comps was causing the issue.  So I kept paring down and down and ultimately I found it was a single file that was causing the issue.  It was an eps of a paint stroke.

     

    The eps had imported as an eps sequence -- this wasn't what I'd intended (it was just a series of paint strokes listed numerically 1, 2, 3, etc).  So it could be that the issue is related to eps sequences.  It could be that since the strokes in question weren't built as a traditional eps sequence (it just happened to be series of images labelled numerically) that something in the difference between the eps's caused AE to freak out. For reference, I believe all of the paint stroke eps STILLS were still in the project when I got it working again, so presumably it wasn't the individual stroke eps's themselves. It was just the sequence of those stills that needed to be removed to solve the problem.  (It's possible I missed one in the sequence and it was the offender, so take the previous sentence with a grain of salt.)  

     

    It also could be related to the fact that the file was listed as missing -- though I've never had an issue with saving a project when there are missing files in it.

     

    So I don't know the exact culprit.  EPS sequences could be the issue. Or maybe something related to missing files. Or maybe one of the individual strokes was the issue. Regardless, should you run into this issue, I'd recommend the process I suggested above and seeing if you can find the offending file that may be causing the issue.

    2 replies

    R
    RyanScammellAuthor
    Inspiring
    October 18, 2023

    One other point of clarification -- we were able to save sometimes with the offending file in it.  So it's not like as soon as the file appeared saving ceased to work forever.  It's more like, this one file is weird, and randomly it can cause AE to be unable to save.

      R
      RyanScammellAuthorCorrect answer
      Inspiring
      October 18, 2023

      Hi all,

       

      I was able to solve the issue. Today the same problem cropped up on my employee's machine. He was working on AE 2023 but it was the same file that I had the problem with.  That made me think it wasn't an issue of the After Effects version but instead something in the file itself that was causing the issue. I went through methodically removing comps (starting with large blocks of comps) reducing the project and seeing if I could save incremental.  Eventually I was able to find a block of comps that when they were deleted and I subsequently reduced the project (to remove any files associated with them -- this is key), I was able to save incremental.  From there I  understood something in these comps was causing the issue.  So I kept paring down and down and ultimately I found it was a single file that was causing the issue.  It was an eps of a paint stroke.

       

      The eps had imported as an eps sequence -- this wasn't what I'd intended (it was just a series of paint strokes listed numerically 1, 2, 3, etc).  So it could be that the issue is related to eps sequences.  It could be that since the strokes in question weren't built as a traditional eps sequence (it just happened to be series of images labelled numerically) that something in the difference between the eps's caused AE to freak out. For reference, I believe all of the paint stroke eps STILLS were still in the project when I got it working again, so presumably it wasn't the individual stroke eps's themselves. It was just the sequence of those stills that needed to be removed to solve the problem.  (It's possible I missed one in the sequence and it was the offender, so take the previous sentence with a grain of salt.)  

       

      It also could be related to the fact that the file was listed as missing -- though I've never had an issue with saving a project when there are missing files in it.

       

      So I don't know the exact culprit.  EPS sequences could be the issue. Or maybe something related to missing files. Or maybe one of the individual strokes was the issue. Regardless, should you run into this issue, I'd recommend the process I suggested above and seeing if you can find the offending file that may be causing the issue.

        joeb74750984
        joeb74750984
        Participant
        September 9, 2024

        ’ve been working on an After Effects project and faced an issue where the project wouldn’t save. I tried everything, including sending it to Media Encoder, but nothing worked. After some research, I discovered that an old file with paint strokes could be the cause. I had indeed imported an old project to use some effects, and once I deleted it, I was able to save the project successfully.

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