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Easin_arafat
Easin_arafat
New Participant
May 20, 2025
Question

Cannot Open AI file! "Expected dict object"

  • May 20, 2025
  • 3 replies
  • 1151 views

Hi I've been working on making fliers in Adobe Illustrator, but the last time I was working it I accidentally reset my computer before or while saving. Since then I can't open it again. I get a errors:

Acrobat PDF File Format is having difficulties. Expected a dict object.

please help me anyone.

 

Here is the download link for my corrupted

https://drive.google.com/file/d/14J0hzNBrsbFXwp8IX3bd-UmcZWLCtQtr/view?usp=drive_link

3 replies

Monika Gause
Monika Gause
Adobe Expert
May 20, 2025

Crash while saving is *the* reason why you should never rely on just one copy of a file.

 

You should take this as a wake up call to come up with a backup strategy (no, the software will not do it for you. Never ever)

 

that means:

- save your files early

- save often

- save incremental copies regularly

- save to at least one different volume (which refers to an additional disk, because harddisks can get corrupted)

- if you have a Mac, turn on the Time Machine (and yes, have it save to a different harddisk, not the internal one)

- if you have Windows, get something similar

 

and when you have all of this, turn on Illustrator's File recovery function as the icing on the cake.

    Abhishek Rao
    Community Manager
    Abhishek RaoCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    May 20, 2025

    Hi @Easin_arafat,

     

    Thanks for sharing the details and the file link. I've reached out to the Illustrator product team to check if there’s any way the file can be recovered. I'll keep you posted if I hear anything back from them.

    That said, the expert here is right that if the file was in the middle of saving and your computer reset before the process could complete, it's very likely that the file was corrupted beyond recovery. Illustrator writes data progressively while saving, and if that process is interrupted, it often results in a broken structure that can't be read or repaired.

    Still, if autosave was enabled or if you had a backup in the cloud (like Adobe Cloud, Dropbox, or Google Drive), you might be able to recover an earlier version. 

     

    Fingers crossed. I'll update you once I hear back from the team.
    Abhishek

    Easin_arafat
    Easin_arafatAuthor
    New Participant
    May 20, 2025

    @Abhishek Rao  thank you so much. I will wai for your update you.

    Abhishek Rao
    Community Manager
    Abhishek RaoCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    May 29, 2025

    Hi @Easin_arafat,

     

    Thanks so much for your patience.

    I reached out to the Illustrator product team and had them review the file. Unfortunately, they've confirmed that the file has become corrupted due to the unexpected system reset during the save process. This kind of corruption typically breaks the internal structure of the file, making it unreadable and in this case, not recoverable through any standard repair methods.

    I completely understand how frustrating this must be, especially when it's an important project. If you had Illustrator's autosave enabled or the file was stored in a synced cloud location (like Google Drive or Adobe Creative Cloud), I'd recommend checking there for an earlier version. 

    For the future, consider saving incremental versions (for example: filename_v1.ai, filename_v2.ai) and enabling Illustrator's recovery settings to help prevent data loss from unexpected interruptions.

     

    Please let me know if there's anything else I can do to help.

    Abhishek

    C
    creative explorer
    Adobe Expert
    May 20, 2025

    @Easin_arafat hate to say it, while you were saving a file, Illustrator writes data to your hard drive. If this process is interrupted mid-way your computer reset before or during the saving process, the file is likely corrupted. Nothing can be done, and hopefully, you have a previous backup of the file. If not, you likely need to re-create the file

    Easin_arafat
    Easin_arafatAuthor
    New Participant
    May 20, 2025

    @creative explorer it's a important file for me. have any way to recover this file? 

    C
    creative explorer
    Adobe Expert
    May 20, 2025

    @Easin_arafat only if you have auto save on and maybe a temp file was saved in the 'temporary folder' — other than that, unless you also saved in Adobe Cloud, Google Drive, Dropbox, you are likely out of luck.... 

    You could pay someone who might b able to retrieve the file, but that, likely will cost alot $$$$ to do so. 

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