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_Umar_Murtaza_
Participant
December 19, 2007
Question

"Can't save the illustration" (CS3)

  • December 19, 2007
  • 22 replies
  • 38782 views
We are running CS3 (downloaded trial version) on Windows XP (with SP2).

Our Ai file is huge, about 70MB, once we edit the file and try yo save it, it gives us the above message (with warning icon):

Can't save the illustration

Moreover, after that, we cannot even open, save or edit the file. We have to close AI and then start it again.

Please suggest.

Umar
    This topic has been closed for replies.

    22 replies

    M
    Megara242
    Participant
    June 29, 2011

    well i copy pasted the content of the file in another new one ... and deleted the items that makes the file huge as unwanted pictures or so.

    i tried to save the file it gave me the same error

    so i deleted the main file ... and when i deleted it ... i reopened  the second one ( that was already opened ) but from its main location (in documents for example) and then i could save it .

    P
    PulseSignsandDesign
    Participant
    March 11, 2016

    Hey Guys, save it out as SVG and reopen Illustrator and resave your SVG as an ai file. Good luck!

    Monika Gause
    Community Expert
    Monika GauseCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    March 11, 2016

    PulseSignsandDesign schrieb:

    Hey Guys, save it out as SVG and reopen Illustrator and resave your SVG as an ai file. Good luck!

    No. Definitely not. There's a risk to lose a lot of everything when saving SVG. The file will get inprecise, convert to RGB, lose effects, flatten and whatever. Unless you check Illustrator editable. But then you might again get into trouble.

    So better to solve whatever problem you have on that computer. Most probably it's with fonts, user privileges, networks or a printer.

    And besides: one should guess that after 5 years the problem is solved anyway.

    G
    Gazpacho
    Participant
    October 28, 2009

    I had the same issue where I could only save the file once before it would present the error "Can't save the illustration". I went into Type>Find Font and replaced one of my fonts that I suspected was causing the problem and replaced it with a "Safe" font. This solved my problem.

    How did I determine what was the problem font from the safe fonts?

    The file was saving fine until I added this font. I also know that all of the fonts I normally work with are safe. I suspect that there might be some permissions issues with that font that doesn't allow embedding, but that's only a guess.

    A
    alexandrafarmer
    Participant
    March 12, 2009
    I tried to copy paste all in a new document. It does not work for me. I can only click "save" once in the original and the new file before getting "CAN'T SAVE THE ILLUSTRATION". At least I can save once. This happens only with this file so I guess some artwork in it is causing the problem. This happened after I accepted a CS3 update so maybe it caused it.
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    _j_OC_
    Participant
    December 28, 2008
    I deleted and linked again all the images and now I can save my file perfectly. :)
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    _Martin_Dennison_
    Participant
    December 22, 2008
    I tried outlining all the fonts and still couldn't save.

    Copying and pasting really doesn't do it for me either as I don't know how to copy the artboard size. As saving as a pdf in CS3 automatically crops to the artboard this is ANOTHER problem. Had been looking forward to upgrading from the 'standard' CS for so long, but now... I don't know why I bothered!!!
    _
    _ideasfrescas_
    Participant
    November 26, 2008
    I just get the solution right now!!!!
    Select all you design, go to edit an copy (control+c)
    then go to file (new) this will open you a new document, then pasted (control+v) and try to save it now.
    It works for me!!!!!

    Tengo la solución al problema!!!
    Selecciona todo tu diseño y cópialo (control+c)
    crea un nuevo documento en file>new (archivo>nuevo) y pégalo con (comando+v ) control +v en pc.
    Ahora sálvalo en file>save o archivo>salvar
    A mi me ha funcionado!!!

    Espero que os funcione .... I wait it works for you aswell.
    _
    _pam_fairlie_
    Participant
    September 29, 2008
    Hey AJ Allen-Same issue "Can't save illustration" 300mg file with transparancies, on Win XP 4gigs of ram. I solved my "virtual memory errors" issue by reloading Illustrator CS3. But only being able to make one change to file, save once and then the "can't save illustration" is killing me. How did you know which fonts were bad? The only font error I've ever received in Illustrator is "can't embed Helvetica".
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    _yapster_
    Participant
    September 27, 2008
    Thanks for the info. Now that you mentioned your other PC i don't
    have that issue on my desktop only this Laptop i recently got. some of the fonts on this laptop i can't even delet.
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    _A_J_Allen_
    Participant
    September 26, 2008
    I was having the "saving" problems on my system as well, then I discovered a bad font file in the fonts folder of windows itself
    (not in illustrator folder although I did take a precautionary measure of deleting all the fonts from the font folder of illustrator...., anyway, oddly enough when I deleted my bad font file, my saving issues were gone.

    the proof was when I noticed the problem didnt occur on my other PC until I had installed the same fonts across both PC's:

    eliminated font on PC1 = problem fixed!
    eliminated font on PC2 = problem fixed!

    very weird,... (but not really if know those adobe guys :(
    _
    _yapster_
    Participant
    September 26, 2008
    I'm using IllustratorCS2.I can only save my work by converting the type to
    outline.If i don't convert the text i get an error message when trying to save. Can anyone help?
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