Can't open the illustration could not complete the requested operation

[Steve_Narro]

I have a really big problem with an illustrator file which i can't open. As the file was saved Adobe Illustrator unexpected closed
down during the saving process which damaged the file. The corrupted file size is still big (368mb) and if i open the file through Bridge i can get
the information about fonts, used colors etc… I've tried many different solutions, as open it with Acrobat, Photoshop, Indesign,
open it with earlier versions of these programs and placing it in illustrator but without any success… the file has been work on for
50h+ so im really desperate to find some way of repair it. I read some similar problem on different forums without finding any solution…

Is there anyone who can help me somehow to try to repair this file?

If it's possible i would really appreciate it

Regards

[Jacob Bugge]

Steve,

You may try this:

A) Safeguarding:

Save a copy of the file under another name.

B) Preparation:

1) Quit Illy;

2) Find and open the aiprefs file; you can see instructions in the Working with the AIPrefs file here: http://www.bugge.com/Family-and-friends/Illy/illy.html

3) In the aiprefs file, find "enable content recovery" and set the value to 1 (instead of 0);

4) Save the aiprefs file without changing its name;

5) Open Illy;

6) Create an empty document.

C) Creation of text files to work with:

1) File>Open;

2) Select the corrupted file, and Ctrl+Alt+Shift (Win) or Cmd+Option+Shift (Mac) when opening it;
3) Close without saving;

4) Repeat 1) - 3) for the empty document.

The two files will have an underscore added before the names.

D) Repair:

1) Open each of the underscored files in a text editor such as Notepad;
2) Delete anything in the corrupted file that looks like the contents of the empty document;
3) Copy the remaining parts into the empty document and save it under a new name;
4) Open the hopefully repaired document.

I hope this is enough. Midnight is near.

Please report back.

[Steve_Narro]

Thanks for the answer Jacob. Unfortunately it didn't resolve my problems with the damaged file. The underscored file i got was 0kb and empty when i tried to open it in a text editor. The original .ai file is 368.6mb and seems to contain a lot, if not all, the information. When opening it in a text editor i can see all the used fonts, colors etc…. Just don't have a clue on how to convert/repair it. Do you have any other idea or solution i could try? Really appreciate it!

Cheers

[Jacob Bugge]

Steve,

The first post was an adapted version of posts I made in a thread some years ago. Obviously, the method fails when there is nothing to work with.

What/how much shows up if you open the original corrupted file in Notepad or similar? Usually there are lots of %%.

There was an old thread, started by Shane, asking for damaged files, made for improvements but with no offering of help, http://forums.adobe.com/message/1924320?tstart=0#1924320; I believe all that has been terminated by Adobe long ago.

Recently there was a thread called Offending operator/garbled object, http://forums.adobe.com/message/1957177#1957177, see especially post #6; maybe Matthew Laun will have a look at your file too.

[Wade_Zimmerman1]

There was recent one as well about a similar problem and the solution there worked. But even though they cane see the fonts and all I think this file is empty.

But there was a thread were someone could not open a number of files but was able to repair by a similar process as you described.

[Steve_Narro]

Thanks for your answers! Read through recent post on from others with similar problems but it seems that the corrupted file is empty… I think I'll start it over again remaking all the illustrations from page 1. This time i'll turn Time Machine on…

Cheers

[Wade_Zimmerman1]

Make a copy and do save as and overwrite the file.

I mean when working on any large file.

[net-style_it]

same problem here with a 200 MB file... When I try to open it, after the status bar, I get the same error as you.

tha result is only a blank file (also in acrobat)

I've tried the enable recovery trick, but I don't get any file on the folder.

I'm really desperate ...

[ryang2723]

I know this is five years later but this solution worked for me.

1. Open a new AI document.

2. File>Place> your original corrupt file. Make Sure you have Enable: Adobe Illustrator(.ai,.ait) selected.

3. It will ask you to select which page if you have multiple artboards.

4. Once the file is placed Object>Release Clipping Mask until all your illustrations are free from the clipping mask. You may also have to ungroup the objects.

Not sure if this works if you have art place outside the Art Boards.

[Hey Bito]

THIS WORKS! THANK YOU SO MUCH

[sa57307414]

Ryan,

I have the same problem as discussed in the thread. But the release clipping mask doesn't even come up. We just spent so many hours on our file and everything has crashed and burned. Could someone please help?

[SJRiegel]

The releasing of the clipping masks comes after you have clicked OK to place the document.

[carol_Li]

This is work for me. Thank you !!

[zazorro]

none of these solutions work and this is a MAJOR issue across all CC illustrators + OSX El Capitan

NO FILES WITH MORE THAN 5 ART BOARDS or 100 MBS open -- it is infuriating

years of work are gone and blank if you try to open any files with these sizes / board numbers. @

The place solution imports blank boards as well and there is nothing to release in the clipping / totally blank everything

ugh!

Adobe is dead -- time for SKETCH 100%

I was a lifelong adobe user until this (fatal) shitshow.

[Monika Gause]

zazorro schrieb:

none of these solutions work

These solutions are from 6 years ago and might or might not apply to your problem.

Please create your own thread, tell us all the details about your files, where you stored them, how you got them onto the new computer, what's in them.

If you posted one of the files somewhere, someone else could check if they can open them.

[FlashBuilder]

I have same problem I'm working with multi artboard file and file size is more than 500mb. It do not crashed nothing happened but when I open it shows error. Then I import all pages from PDF one by one and save file sadly again I was unable to open that file.

I think issue is with large files? I am using Illustrator CC.