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E_D1
Participating Frequently
November 1, 2018
Question

Illustrator "Can't open the illustration" error

  • November 1, 2018
  • 1 reply
  • 6117 views

Hi guys,

I've been using my current version (CC 2015) of Adobe Illustrator on my work computer with Windows 10 for over a year without a single problem/error. This morning I opened a few files I had worked on a couple of weeks ago to update them & after saving as new file name, I can't open these new files in Illustrator again. I can still open the files from a few weeks ago, edit those & save as again, but then once I've done what I need to do to the files, I can't get back into the files again. I've tried saving as .PDF, .AI, .EPS & .AIT, none of them will open in Illustrator. The .PDF files I saved open perfectly in Acrobat, just not in Illustrator.

From reading around, it sounds like this is usually a corruption in the Illustrator Preferences file, however after deleting this file & re-doing everything, I'm left with the same problem. Everything saves fine, but won't re-open in Illustrator. The strange part is, when I saved some files about halfway through my edit & then saved as new file name, the files I saved at halfway through what I had to do all open just fine! Seems there was something in that second save-as that corrupted.

Any clues as to what this might be? I have about 30 files that need this same update done to them, so it's pretty important that the files are editable in Illustrator again in case further changes are required down the line...


Cheers,

Ethan

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    1 reply

    E
    E_D1Author
    Participating Frequently
    November 1, 2018

    OK, interesting update.... I've managed to figure out what was causing the issues by doing a new 'save as' every time I made a change to the file & figuring out where the files seemed to be getting corrupted. It seems that when I created a new text box was when my file messed up. I've since managed to do what I need to do by copying & pasting existing text boxes I had in the document & just changing their font parameters & text to update the document as was necessary. The files I've done this on are still opening up properly in Illustrator in all file types (.AI, .PDF & .AIT are the ones I've tried). It's a clunky work-around, but its working, so it'll do for now.

    Anyone know why creating a new text box would corrupt a file...? Particularly since duplicating existing text boxes didn't cause the same problems...?

    Monika Gause
    Community Expert
    Monika GauseCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    November 1, 2018

    Which font do you use in the text box?

    Is that font 100% OK and not corrupted?

    Do you use font management? Which one?

    E
    E_D1Author
    Participating Frequently
    November 6, 2018

    Files can get corrupted when saving them directly to a server.

    I don't know what you did to your files, so it's difficult to tell what might have happened.

    You might want to try and contact Customer Care.

    Contact Customer Care

    They might take a look at your system to check if there's something wrong there.

    Illustrator support for networks and removable media


    OK thanks Monika, I'll look into it...

    Cheers

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