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DigitalChickster
Inspiring
November 1, 2013
Answered

Can't open svg files

  • November 1, 2013
  • 12 replies
  • 58209 views

Hi all! I have a 2008 iMac I've been using for a long time. I just bought a new 2013 iMac. I'm using Illustrator CS6 (via the cloud). I work for a company that has me download svg files. I normally open those using Illustrator (I am using the same version of Illustrator on both computers). When I used to open the svg files, I would get a message that says, "The document uses fonts or characters which are not available or are in a different format than originally specified." Below that it says, "Sans-serf: An unknown problem occured." But then I'd click "OK" and it would open just fine.

On my new iMac, when I double click on the same svg file, I get the message, "The operation cannot complete because of an unknown error. [CANT].

So... what can I do? It doesn't give me any options at all!

julie

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer rama_ai11751598

    17.1 update is released today for Illustrator CC, this issue is fixed.

    I validated the files provided by davidcorrelldesign and they are now opening.

    Please update to 17.1 and see if this issue is reproducible.

    -Rama

    Illustrator Team

    12 replies

    Participant
    May 18, 2022

    I have the same problems from 10 days ago, before everything worked. I have the updated Creative Cloud illustrator.  How can the problem be fixed?

    Anshul_Saini
    Community Manager
    Community Manager
    May 23, 2022

    Hi @simona24504221p4ne,

     

    Sorry for the trouble. I assume this SVG file was exported from Ai v26.2.1. If yes,  I would recommend upgrading to Ai v26.3.1, released recently, which contains multiple bug fixes.

     

    Export the SVG from v26.3.1 and let us know if it helps.

     

    Regards,

    Anshul Saini

    Participant
    May 24, 2022

    Sorry, it didn't work even with the updated version.

    What can I do?

    Simona

    Participant
    October 30, 2017

    I think I just found a hack around this issue for Illustrator CS6 on Mac—you can "place" the .svg into Illustrator and it should come in with all of the editable vector points. At least that worked for me!

    Participant
    February 29, 2016

    i'm getting this error. anyone faced the same?
    ,

    Participant
    December 9, 2015

    Our company only allows open file formats to avoid vendor (and version) lock-in. This has meant we use SVG file format as the working file for designs. This allowed us to open with Inkscape and CS5.

    Now I am working with a design house that uses CC and they cannot open these files. So I need to open Inkscape and export to EPS and then they can import to CC.

    This is not an acceptable solution and for now I am making all our designers use Inkscape. It is not the best, but open is more important to me than best.

    For others that are working in mixed Adobe / Inkscape design houses, please see http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/Inkscape_for_Adobe_Illustrator_users

    Unfortunately the latest Inkscape no longer supports opening AI files, as noted in that file.

    sug11388659
    Participant
    December 2, 2015

    Open the .svg file using Inkscape, save it as .eps and open using Adobe Illustrator.

    diansafe
    Participant
    August 4, 2015

    Has this problem been solved or is there a workaround?

    I have Adobe Illustrator CS6 v 16.0.5. Same problem as reported in previous posts when I try to open svg files, either created in Ilustrator or Inkscape.

    Thanks


    DigitalChickster
    Inspiring
    August 4, 2015

    This is an automatic response to your email. I am out of the office July 30 through August 4. I will get back to you on Wednesday, August 5. I will talk to you then!

    julie

    Participant
    January 20, 2015

    I have the latest version of Illustrator CC and I have saved files to svg then attempted to open the file and illustrator crashes. No error message nothing. Just crashes and I have to reopen illustrator. I've tried to reset my cpu and that didn't work.

    Participant
    January 17, 2014

    I updated and tried again, and the opened with no trouble. Thanks for the fix!

    rama_ai11751598
    rama_ai11751598Correct answer
    Inspiring
    January 16, 2014

    17.1 update is released today for Illustrator CC, this issue is fixed.

    I validated the files provided by davidcorrelldesign and they are now opening.

    Please update to 17.1 and see if this issue is reproducible.

    -Rama

    Illustrator Team

    Participant
    January 29, 2015

    Hi

    I have Illustrator CC 18.1.1.

    It can't open SVG files that it generated self. Message: "This SVG is invalid. Validate it before opening."

    It can open SVG:s generated in CS5, but it destroys them too.

    What should I do? It is the latest version.

    Cheers:

    Maria

    Participant
    December 4, 2013

    +1