How to open a .aid file on a mac

Hi

I had a problem today with a file I saved. It was a very important file with logo concepts for an important client.
I closed the saved file and tried opening it a little while later, but I got an error message that the file was unknown.

I tried searching for a recovery file in the DataRecovery folder, but there wasn't a recent one.

Luckily I had a Time Machine backup and went to the DataRecovery file and found the .aid recovery file. I checked this by opening it in TextEdit and searching for the image links that I had used.

I then tried searching the internet for a solution on how to open the .aid file, however I couldn't find one anywhere anywhere.

I contacted Adobe directly and they told me; "Unfortunately it's not possible". What is the point of having a DataRecovery folder if you can't recover the files!!!

Thankfully I discovered a solution!

1. Open the DataRecovery folder.

To check where you're folder is located, open illustrator and go to Preferences/File Handling & Clipboard/DataRecovery.

2. Create a new document in Illustrator and wait for a new .aid file to be created. If it doesn't appear after a few mins, try drawing a few shapes on the page and wait again.

3. Once the new recovery file is created, you need to crash illustrator. I opened Activity Monitor (Mac), found Adobe Illustrator, clicked on it and then chose to 'Force Quit' it.

4. Open the both the new .aid file and the one you need to recover in 'TextEdit'.

5. Copy all the text from the .aid you need to recover and paste it in place of all the text in the new recovery file and then save and close.

6. I then reopened Illustrator and the recovery window appeared. I hit ok and voila, the work I lost was recovered!

Hopefully this works for anyone else with this problem!