Illustrator could partially read this file

[MartinBelfast]

Hi, I have been experiencing issues when opening .ai files. I think the problems started after the last update. I get a message saying 'Illustrator could partially read this file'. When the file opens I only see one artboard with the content broken apart, similar to what you would see if you opened a .pdf in Illustrator.

I have tried installing a previous version and then going back to the latest version but it does not correct the problem. I have copied files to my hard drive and tried to place files into a new file but nothing gets me back my full file.

There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the file as I have just installed a trial version of Affinity Designer and my .ai files open without any issues. I really need to find a solution otherwwise I will probably have to go with Affinity Designer to open my files. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[NIKHIL SHRIMAN]

Same issue as in...

1. I was working on that artwork a bit everyday.. but today when i tried opening the file... A error popped up conveying that illustrator could only partially read my file..

2. I saved the file 3 separate places : One Drive... Google Drive... And my hard disk. All the files are having the same error.

3. Nothing unusual happened when i last closed the file.

4. My Illustrations/ Drawing artwork I have been working for almost two months now. I was at the point I almost finished the whole work.

5. Yes, I Rebooted the computer and also tried uninstalling and reinstalling the software.. but no help

6. What do you mean? "If not , why not?" And yes I have 3 copies stored at 3 separate places... All having the same issue..

7.  There are two error messages, first when I open the file: Illustrator could partially read this file

And when I click open, I see a blank artboard.. a message saying: "This is an Adobe Illustrator file that was saved without pdf content. To place or open this file in other applications, it should be resaved with save compatible pdf turned on"

8. I am using HP envy x360 running windows 10.

I was going to generate a separate thread but I found this thread discussing similar problem like mine. 

[sjalghamdi]

I do as you said and install 24.0 but it open all the artboard with nothing on it although it open in adobe reader 

[KYRA5FE0]

Hi I'm currently having the same issue I can't open my ai files and I also have no options of the version 24 on my creative cloud. Can u help me? thank you so much this would save my life

[5FDD]

I'm in the same position as KYRA5FE0, 
Have tried to open these files in both 24.3 and 25.0 with no luck.

Any tips for those of us who can't get to a version older than that?

[5FDD]

Further testing revealed I could open my file on a windows based system with illustrator 25. Seems like the problem is isolated to the mac in my case at least.

[KYRA5FE0]

Hii yess same I'm using MacBook as well this is super frustrating 😢

can anyone help us on getting the older version?

[nataliache]

Same here, it's becoming a huge pain for me. Nothing works, backup files won't open either. Spent a whole night designing a super urgent thing, and now I can't send it to print. Switching to Affinity looks like a great idea.

[shiagarw]

update the illustrator to latest version or atleast above 24.1 to get the benefits of recovery on already corrupt documents.. share the file at file@adobe.com for better attention to the problem.

in case the file is getting opened fine in any earlier version of illustraotr, let the adobe folks know immediately where this got broken... it will be fixed on priority.

[Samolevsky]

Same issue here: "Illustrator could partially read this file"!

All corrupted files open in Illustrator 2020 with no problems though

[Shakura5F9E]

As per ryanb59064838's instructions, I installed down to 24.0 and my file was able to open no problem! It's easy to do within the Adobe Cloud.

Go to All Apps

Click the ... beside the program 

Click Other versions 

and Install the version down

[defaultfyo2vh37hesg]

It's def a font issue. I use Fontbase and I had this issue when it was not open before opening the AI file. Once I opened Fontbase the problem went away.

[emileem23799572]

I'm experiencing this on just one file I created today, but this version of Illustrator will open all my other files? I'm running on an iMac mid-2011 (I know lol, not my choice) and I can't upgrade to anything above 10.13 so the latest version of Illustrator isn't supported and Adobe is only giving me the option to go as far back as 24.3

[Sabrina5C1C]

So I use Clean My Mac software so I did this and it worked! 

Open Clean My Mac

Click "Uninstaller"

Scroll down to Illustrtor click it

It presents a drop down that says "uninstaller" or "reset"

I clicked "reset" 

Worked right away and it's quicker than uninstalling it and reinstalling it !

Hope this helps

[Parent230581727cdo]

THANK YOU SABRINA YOU SAVED MY LIFE ! IT WORKED RIGHT AWAY ON MY IMAC. GOD BLESS YOU HAHAHA

[Kārlis]

Hello
The same issue just appeared on my mac with the latest illustrator...
What worked was: i uninstalled illustrator and clicked remove preferences..
my file that previously didn't open..  now it worked just fine!
then i started to set my preferences.. and file was corrupt again..

I found out that problem was in scratch disks, when i choose a secondary scratch disk - some of my big files don't open and the illustrator says that he cant recover.. if i select NONE at secondary scratch disk - Files open just fine!

[Kārlis]

UPDATE
It's definitely some error with swap/temp files and scratch disks.

For few weeks everything was ok (without secondary scratch disk) but then one-day the same error showed agin.. for same file that was ok yesterday.

Copied that file to other computer, and it opened just fine.

(for me this error is only for large complicated files, small documents open just fine)

So I changed Primary scratch disk to another disk and again everything is OK

[Wilson Faustino]

Any real solution to that? I'm having the same issue and Creative Cloud doesn't allow me to install any version below 24.3. Any help would be very appreciated.

[Kārlis]

Hi, read my comment above yours... just turn off the secondary scratch disk... 

[Wilson Faustino]

Hi. Thank you for your answer, but my secondary scratch disk is already set to none. 😞

Strangely, Adobe did not make any fix to it yet.

[Kārlis]

It's not depending from the version, I tried same file on two almost identical MacBooks, with latest illustrator.. one opened the file fine, other - dont..
Uninstall illustrator and reset all preferences... it will ask you at some point to remove or keep preferences - click remove...

Reinstall newest version and everything will be ok with same files..

[Wilson Faustino]

I will give that a shot. Thanks for the suggestion.

[sarao4455805]

I found a solution that worked for me... clearing Illustrator preferences. Hold down SHIFT+OPTION+COMMAND while launching Illustrator, then do a file open (will no longer show recents) of your document. Worked like a charm with two 300GB documents that were giving me this issue and were opening flattened, pages missing, etc. as you described.

[Kārlis]

Just change scratch disk in illustrator preferences to another disk... no need to reset preferences... works every time (for me)

[ryanf67604513]

I've been having the same issue. This may sound dumb, but I've always been able to open the file again after basically trying to open it every which way. For instance, sometimes I'll right click the file and select 'open in illustrator', other times I'll double click the file, lastly (which just worked for me about 5 minutes ago) was clicking on the preview of the file in the Illustrator Home screen. I'd say 8 or 9 tries and it'll just finally open. I figured it was a bug, but at least I'm not alone. 

[Anshul_Saini]

Hi @ryanf67604513,

We are sorry about the trouble. I would request you to update to v26.0.2. We have tried to address this issue in this release. If you don't see this update, you may manually check for updates in the Creative Cloud desktop app. Let us know how it goes.

Thanks & Regards,

Anshul Saini