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Can't save file 'this file cannot be found' error

Engaged ,
Feb 03, 2021 Feb 03, 2021

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Hi There,

 

I've been working on a file for a cople of days that's on my desktop. Today I opened the file, made some edits and hit CMD + S and saw this error...

Screen Shot 2021-02-04 at 9.37.05 AM.png

 

Things I've tried...

  1. Copying the art into a new document and saving
  2. Saving the new document to different disks (all local, no servers)
  3. Creating a blank document with nothing in it and saving

 

Bascially, I can't save anything - has anyone else seen this?

Cheers

Ben

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correct answers 7 Correct answers

Explorer , Jun 22, 2021 Jun 22, 2021

I think I know why this is happening. I have 2 Adobe accounts - one that has full access and one that only has free access. A mistake I made a while back was setting up an adobe stock account using my free account instead of my paid account, so to buy stock images, I have to log out of the account that my Illustrator, Photoshop, etc programs are connected to, log into my free one, get the images I want, save, and log out.

 

When this same issue happened to me, I was logged into the free account th

...

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New Here , Sep 06, 2021 Sep 06, 2021

Howdy!

I was having this problem too, but may have found a FIX!, though I don't know how or why it works. I change the document colour mode (RGB/CYMK) from whichever I am using then undo (so my file doesnt look whack) then save again and it works. Would love if someone who is having this problem could attempt this and verify.

 

Best,

e

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Community Beginner , May 14, 2022 May 14, 2022

Hi @Anshul_Saini and @Monika Gause It was none of the suggestions in this thread! I even completely uninstalled Illustrator and started again, same thing. Further research led me to a random comment on another forum mentioning Controlled Access Folders. I found them here: settings > updates & security > windows security >  virus and threat protection > Ransomware protection > Manage ransomware protection > Controlled Access Folders with a little on/off button! The button was on... switched it of

...

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New Here , Aug 09, 2022 Aug 09, 2022

Hello - I was having the same issue. Could not save and got the error, "file not found." My fix was that I saved the file as a PDF first. Then saved as an AI file and it did not error. 

Good luck!

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New Here , Apr 07, 2023 Apr 07, 2023

I turned off the VPN of my pc security software then it worked.

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New Here , Aug 15, 2023 Aug 15, 2023

For me, its because windows controlled folder access blocking the access to required folder path. To cope with it, you need to allow the app access.

Go to windows security > Virus & Threat protection > Ransomware protection > and under controlled folder access, click Allow an app through Controlled folder access

Then add illustrator and adobe services to allowed app list

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New Here , Oct 29, 2023 Oct 29, 2023

I had the same issue and instead of double clicking the document, I dragged it down to the Illustrator icon in my Dock and it opened up just fine. I hope I don't have that issue again though. 

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replies 137 Replies 137
New Here ,
May 18, 2021 May 18, 2021

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Same thing just happened to me.  I was able to save as an .svg first then I tried again as an .ai and it just suddenly worked.  

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New Here ,
May 27, 2021 May 27, 2021

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That just worked for me - thanks!

 

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Community Beginner ,
May 31, 2021 May 31, 2021

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Thanks @betsyg17920228 ! Saved my day 🙂

The only downside is that when you work with multiple layers you'll now have only one layer with your previously created layers as groups inside. You'll have to release these back to layers and rename all layers back to what you had again. A little more time-consuming, but works!

Hope this issue will be fixed soon.

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New Here ,
Feb 10, 2022 Feb 10, 2022

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I know this is an older comment, but I just came across the post after needing an answer.  Just wanted to let you know, @Stan de Wijs, if you have a project with a lot of layers that you don't want to have to rename--try creating a new project and saving that as .svg, then see if you can save the one you were working on and cared about as a .ai and skipping the .svg step.  It worked for me; hopefullly it will work for others too!  

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New Here ,
Feb 08, 2024 Feb 08, 2024

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Thanks so much! This worked for me. I'd been working on an image for a few days. Hadn't had a problem saving it until this afternoon, when the "This file cannot be found" error popped up. On finding your message, I created a new file, saved it as .svg, then went back to my original file and it saved as .ai. So relieved. Thanks again.

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New Here ,
Jul 25, 2023 Jul 25, 2023

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Amazing! I had 2 new projects open. Thank you!

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New Here ,
Jun 09, 2021 Jun 09, 2021

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That saved my 2 days worth of work! Thanks @betsyg17920228 

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New Here ,
Dec 31, 2021 Dec 31, 2021

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Holy moly! ctrl+s constantly!

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New Here ,
Jun 26, 2021 Jun 26, 2021

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This worked! Thanks

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New Here ,
Aug 24, 2021 Aug 24, 2021

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THANK YOU, saved my afternoon

 

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Community Beginner ,
Aug 25, 2021 Aug 25, 2021

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Thank you!  One of my students had this same issue and the SVG --> AI file thing worked!

 

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New Here ,
Sep 12, 2021 Sep 12, 2021

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Worked for me as well. First save as .SVG and hereafter as .AI again. I got this message after removing Adobe desktop apps in my local language and reinstalling them in the English languages. Another underlying cause might be that these files were prepared in an old Adobe version (before creative cloud).

 

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New Here ,
Sep 20, 2021 Sep 20, 2021

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This works, thank you so much!!!!!

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New Here ,
Dec 08, 2021 Dec 08, 2021

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I've just come across the same issue. Thanks to this post, saved as .svg, the resaved as .ai, and it worked. Thanks:)

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Community Expert ,
Dec 08, 2021 Dec 08, 2021

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Saving as an SVG can damage your file.

 

You absolutely have to turn on the "Illustrator editable" option. Otherwise your paths will be changed and attributes expanded. The option is not turned on by default.

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New Here ,
Feb 05, 2022 Feb 05, 2022

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Could you please explain where/how to do this? 

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New Here ,
Jan 19, 2022 Jan 19, 2022

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Thank you! This worked for me as well.

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New Here ,
Feb 01, 2022 Feb 01, 2022

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thank you so much!!! helped me instantly! 

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New Here ,
Feb 03, 2022 Feb 03, 2022

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Yoy are a Saviour! This worked for me too!

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New Here ,
Feb 10, 2022 Feb 10, 2022

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This works for me, I could kiss you.  Thank you @betsyg17920228!!!! 

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New Here ,
Mar 02, 2022 Mar 02, 2022

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Thank you. I had the same problem and was able to save using your solution.

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Community Beginner ,
Apr 05, 2022 Apr 05, 2022

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Thank you @betsyg17920228 .. Tried your solution and it works.

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New Here ,
Mar 10, 2022 Mar 10, 2022

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This worked -- why is this NOT on TOP of the list?

Thank you so much - of course this happened at the worst time at night!

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New Here ,
May 26, 2021 May 26, 2021

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This happened to me when I attempted to clear my temp files (Photoshop would edit the smallest thing due to space). I've just uninstalled all my apps and reinstalled them - so far so good. might be worth a try. 

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New Here ,
May 28, 2021 May 28, 2021

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This just started happening to me as well.

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