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K
katyl99096149
Participating Frequently
October 22, 2018
Answered

Opening illustrator file in older version of illustrator created annoying clipping paths

  • October 22, 2018
  • 2 replies
  • 1914 views

I opened a file in an older version of illustrator.  I had many invisible rectangles to serve as edges when I originally fit artboard to edges of rectangles. This created clipping groups and clipping masks between different layers. After opening in an older version of illustrator I see many clipping masks now I just want to delete them all but when I delete them the artwork also disappears. I also now again opened the file in the newest version of illustrator and the clipping masks and paths are still there and I can't delete them because the artwork also disappears then. And when I nudge the clipping mask the part of the artwork it covers disappears.

Does anyone know how to deal with this type of problem? Is there a way to get rid of all the rectangles that I think turned into clipping masks without erasing the artwork layers that are within the clipping groups?

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Monika Gause

What has happened is that Illustrator has opened the PDF part of the file. This is how Illustrator files work: How Illustrator saves files - YouTube

You can't actually "fix" the file now. You can just work with what's there. You need to take a deep dive into the layers panel and get your contents out of those clipping masks that you don't need.

You could try if the plugin VectorFirstAid does a better job at this in a shorter time.

2 replies

Monika Gause
Community Expert
Monika GauseCommunity Expert
Community Expert
October 22, 2018

the proper way would have been to downsave the file to the older version before opening it. But also after opening it in the old version it should stay intact if you just don‘t save it. do you perhaps have a version of that file before opening in the old version? open that in the new version and then downsave.

K
katyl99096149Author
Participating Frequently
October 22, 2018

I already saved the file so there is no way to go back. For some reason

clip groups were created for all of my objects. Is it possible to have

someone look at my file ? I really just want to understand the problem and

I want to fix it in the most efficient way possible.

Monika Gause
Community Expert
Monika GauseCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
October 22, 2018

What has happened is that Illustrator has opened the PDF part of the file. This is how Illustrator files work: How Illustrator saves files - YouTube

You can't actually "fix" the file now. You can just work with what's there. You need to take a deep dive into the layers panel and get your contents out of those clipping masks that you don't need.

You could try if the plugin VectorFirstAid does a better job at this in a shorter time.

Jacob Bugge
Community Expert
Jacob BuggeCommunity Expert
Community Expert
October 22, 2018

Katy,

What happens if you (try to) release them?

I believe that in the older versions you may be looking at the PDF part of the original document.

macpawel
macpawel
Participating Frequently
October 22, 2018

Jacob is right - it's probably PDF type file or just converted PDF into AI

You can release masks or remove these invisible rectangle using Direct Selection Tool (A)

Just go to Outline preview (CTRL+Y) and select some part of this rectangle

Use Backspace to remove selected point and press Bacspace (Delete) again to remove others parts of this rectangle.

This way you can remove all of them

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