Illustrator will not save file

[maryn_leichtnam]

When I go to save my illustrator file, it comes up with an error message saying "Can't save the illustration. .278." My storage on my computer is starting to get pretty low, so I thought I'd try saving it on my external hard drive to see if that worked. When I tried to do this, it came up with a different error message saying "This file cannot be found." I've done some googling and any suggestions that I've seen have not worked. I tried copying and pasting to a new file and that didn't work. From what I can tell, most of the time when people have this issue, it has something to do with text in their file, but I don't have any in mine. Anyone have any idea how to get around this? Thanks

[Monika Gause]

Which system?

Any third party plugins?

Is a printer connected and turned on?

[maryn_leichtnam]

System is Mac OS X El Capitan. No third party plugins and no printer.

[Monika Gause · Accepted solution]

You need a printer.

If you don't have one, set up a PDF prnter.

[maryn_leichtnam]

I actually just realized I was having multiple other issues as well, such as other programs like Word and Powerpoint not being able to open, so I figured it was a safe bet I needed to restart my computer. I was trying to avoid doing this because I didn't want to lose my work, but it seemed to fix the problem. Just for future reference though, why would I need a printer just to save a file? I've never had to have a printer hooked up before to save from Illustrator.

[Monika Gause]

Illustrator saves information about the printer in the file.

When opening or saving a file it looks for a printer.

I'm just telling you that this is the case.

I don't know why it is the case.

[Marcin Wik]

this solution sounds riddiculous but I am experiencing a very similar problem ("I wont save this file 'cause I can't find it") with three printers installed including the Adobe PDF driver.

So what's going on?

[Monika Gause]

this solution sounds riddiculous but I am experiencing a very similar problem ("I wont save this file 'cause I can't find it") with three printers installed including the Adobe PDF driver.

So what's going on?

By @Marcin Wik

This is a 6 year old thread, the world has turned and things might have become easier on one side, but more difficult on another one.

Since this solution did not help you, please create a new thread, describe what is happening, tell us your system and hardware info.

Where you save the file - server or local?

[Marcin Wik]

yes, I actually created a new thread: 

https://community.adobe.com/t5/illustrator-discussions/illustrator-wont-save-files-because-they-don-...

the problem is on network and local disk