Error when opening files - The file may be read-only

[master_friendship5EF9]

2024 and I still get this error on illustrator. I tried everything before and it didn't work. How to fix it. Please help me, thanks.

[renamed by mod]

[Anshul_Saini]

Hi @master_friendship5EF9,

I’m sorry to hear you’re still facing this issue with Illustrator! To help troubleshoot further, could you let me know where you’re saving the file? Is it on your desktop, an external hard drive, a network drive, or a server?

Also, have you tried using File > Save a Copy to save it to a different location or under a different name? This can sometimes bypass permissions or other issues that may be causing the “read-only” error. Let me know if this helps or if there’s any other detail you can provide!

Best,

Anshul Saini

[master_friendship5EF9]

I save in SSD laptop (C hard drive). And I try save a Copy but it doesn't work. Am so confused right now

[Anubhav M]

Hello @master_friendship5EF9,

Thanks for confirming. Have you tried saving the file to a different folder location, like the Desktop / Documents and checking if it helps? If the problem persists, kindly share more details, like the exact version of the OS/Illustrator and a screen recording of your workflow and the problem (https://adobe.ly/4dZ6atC), so we can investigate this further.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,
Anubhav

[master_friendship5EF9]

After trying it I successfully saved it to downloads. But it's annoying me when searching for the folder, is there any way to get it back?

[Anubhav M]

Hello @master_friendship5EF9,

Thanks for the confirmation. What was the exact folder location you were trying to save earlier? Are you using the computer under an Administrator account or a regular user? Do you have any file-syncing applications like Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, etc.?

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,

Anubhav

[master_friendship5EF9]

I have One drive but I turned off sync. It was fine until today. If possible, please tell me how to fix it. If not, well, I can just save it somewhere and it's not comfortable.

[Anubhav M]

Hello @master_friendship5EF9,

Thanks for sharing the details. Is Illustrator able to save correctly when OneDrive sync is turned off? If yes, it may be interfering with Illustrator, and you should not save it to that location directly. Instead, save them to a different directory and manually copy them to the folder. Alternatively, you may save your work as Cloud Documents (https://adobe.ly/3XlVZK5).

Feel free to reach out if you have more questions or need assistance. We'd be happy to help.

Thanks,
Anubhav