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Error: “Can’t open the illustration”

Community Beginner ,
Apr 14, 2018 Apr 14, 2018

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I’m trying to open an .ai file with Adobe Illustrator CC 2018 (Mac OS 10.13.3). It shows the popup “Can’t open the illustration.” I click on “OK” button and the file opens, but there are no any text layers. I see the text layers on preview in Finder, in Dropbox. The text layers are visible if open the file with Adobe Acrobat, but Illustrators simply deletes all the text layers when I open the file in it. The font used in the text layers is Acumin Variable if it’s essential.

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correct answers 1 Correct answer

Guide , Apr 14, 2018 Apr 14, 2018

And, have you tried resetting the preferences file for Illustrator? Always the first thing to check.

Also, do you have access to another computer, or another version of Illustrator, will it open in that?

Does it open in Photoshop?

You could download the trial of Affinity Designer and see if you can open it in that? If you can then save it as a new file and try it again in AI>

Affinity - Professional creative software

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Guide ,
Apr 14, 2018 Apr 14, 2018

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If it opens in Acrobat it must be a PDf, not an AI file. Try changing the file extension to .pdf and then try opening it in AI again. Let me know if that works for you.

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Community Beginner ,
Apr 14, 2018 Apr 14, 2018

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Thank you, but changing the extension was the first I tried. It didn’t help. It is definitely AI file, not PDF. I created this file by myself in Adobe Illustrator.

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Community Expert ,
Apr 15, 2018 Apr 15, 2018

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theangietaylor  schrieb

If it opens in Acrobat it must be a PDf, not an AI file.

When you save an AI file with the option "PDF compatible", then the AI file contains a PDF. This part of the file will be opened in Acrobat (and in Affinity Designer, Photoshop and everything else).  How Illustrator saves files: How Illustrator saves files - YouTube

Unfortunately the elements in the PDF are expanded and therefore not fully editable.

In order to force Illustrator to replace the font, I would try and uninstall the font.

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Guide ,
Apr 15, 2018 Apr 15, 2018

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Thanks Monika 🙂

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Community Beginner ,
Apr 16, 2018 Apr 16, 2018

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Unfortunately, it’s impossible (?) to uninstall the font without uninstalling the whole Adobe CC. The Acumin font is a part of CC and not accessible via Font Book.

Anyway, it wouldn’t help. It appears that the font has been excluded from the list of suspects after I noticed that some text layers which used Acumin Variable Concept font are in their place, visible and editable. But some non-text layers are lost.

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Community Expert ,
Apr 16, 2018 Apr 16, 2018

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Probably your file is at least partly corrupt.

You could try and create a new Illustrator file, then place this corrupt file in it. That way you access the PDF part of the file (hope it's ok)

Embed the placed file. To get the most out of it, you could only copy the parts you need from the PDF.

Make sure you also copy the still working parts into a new file.

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Guide ,
Apr 14, 2018 Apr 14, 2018

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Have you tried dragging and dropping it into a new file?

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Guide ,
Apr 14, 2018 Apr 14, 2018

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And, have you tried resetting the preferences file for Illustrator? Always the first thing to check.

Also, do you have access to another computer, or another version of Illustrator, will it open in that?

Does it open in Photoshop?

You could download the trial of Affinity Designer and see if you can open it in that? If you can then save it as a new file and try it again in AI>

Affinity - Professional creative software

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Community Beginner ,
Apr 14, 2018 Apr 14, 2018

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Could you please specify which preferences I need to reset?

Unfortunately, I haven’t access to another computer.

Yes, it opens in Photoshop, flattened, but the text is presented.

Tried to open the file in Affinity Designer. The text layers that use other fonts, not Acumin Variable Concept, are presented and editable. All the layers that used the Acumin Variable Concept disappeared just like in Adobe Illustrator. So it looks like the problem is related to that new variable font

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Guide ,
Apr 14, 2018 Apr 14, 2018

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Yes, you may need to substitute the font? Then it should work.

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Community Beginner ,
Apr 14, 2018 Apr 14, 2018

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I’d be happy to substitute the font but when I open the file the text layers are lost so there is nothing to substitute.

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Community Beginner ,
Apr 14, 2018 Apr 14, 2018

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Just re-checked the corrupted file opened in the Adobe Illustrator more closely.

Some text layers that used Acumin Variable Concept font are in their place, visible and editable. But some non-text layers disappeared.

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Community Beginner ,
Apr 16, 2018 Apr 16, 2018

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Thank you, at first I didn’t understand what “resetting” means and just skipped it and continued disturbing you. Sorry about that.

So the cure is to reset the Adobe Illustrator.

For those, who don’t know how to do it (just like me):

Press and hold Alt+Control+Shift (Windows) or Option+Command+Shift (macOS) as you start Illustrator.

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New Here ,
Oct 28, 2018 Oct 28, 2018

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reset the Adobe Illustrator is work!!!!!!!

Thanks!!

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Advocate ,
Oct 28, 2022 Oct 28, 2022

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For me this did not work. Luckily, it was a file i made earlier and i had only saved it under a new name.

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Guide ,
Apr 14, 2018 Apr 14, 2018

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Perhaps you could preflight the PDF in Acrobat? That way it might tell you more about the font issue.

Not sure if there’s a way of forcing Illustrator to substitute a font but it may be worth Googling it to see?

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New Here ,
Mar 29, 2023 Mar 29, 2023

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I was having the same exact problem.  For me, the file was made "online-only".  As soon as I right clicked and made it available offline I was good to go!  Hopefully this helps.

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