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the file is an unknown format and cannot be opened (.ai file)

Forum|Forum|15 years ago
May 31, 2011
12 replies
157938 views

Hi. I am on XP and working with AI CS4.

I cannot open an Illustrator file that I created last year. I did NOT have this file emailed to me. I just need to make a couple edits and reprint it.

This is what I have tried to do:

I tried zipping the file and opening it.

I tried Ctrl + Shift + Alt clicking on Open when trying to open the file fro the Open dialog box.

I tried copying & pasting the file to another directory to open it.

I tried using another version of Illustrator, 10.

I tried right clicking and selecting Open With Illustrator.

I found another post on this topic that mentions to enable content recovery mode:

http://forums.adobe.com/message/2560449#2560449

It is just here, http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/500/cpsid_50031.html it says it can be risky and I am afraid to damage other Illustrator files. There are a lot on the system.

I was just wondering if there was another way. I do not have a backup of this file (didn't think it was important). I may have a jpg, but I'd like the actual Illustrator file to work with if possible.

Thank you.

Performance

Correct answer tates92077876

I found this thread in 2022 for this same issue, the "correct answer" of putting into InDesign did not work for me.

What DID work, was (with a copy of the file) I simply changed it from a .ai to a .svg in file explorer, accepted the warning, then the new .svg file opened up in illustrator for me. Even the layers were preserved under a parent layer. Hope this helps if anyone else encounters this again.

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suvashk62237996

Participant

Hello Everyone+Stella,

I faced the same problem. At first I saved in AI format and when I was trying to open it that was showing the problem.

The solution is: Just save the file in EPS format and it is done ! Now it is opening smoothly. Thanks everyone.

Jacob Bugge

Community Expert

Stella,

Did you try to create a new document and File>Place the damamged file in it, to see what may be recovered that way?

Any risk only applies to the file you are changing; you may work on a copy.

S

Stella1251Author

Known Participant

Hi Jacob - actually yes I did try that one too. I knew I was missing one! It said it is in a format in which the file cannot be placed.

And thanks I will try to work on a copy from my C drive. I normally work on another drive for artwork like this. I'll see what happens.....ahh

S

Stella1251Author

Known Participant

Hi Jacob.

I opened the AI Prefs file in NotePad then I saved it at the Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\<user name>\Application Data\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator [version] Settings\en_US\AIPrefs path as a txt file. I then went to this path in Windows Explorer & deleted the .txt extension. The file looks like this "AIPrefs"

without an extension.

I just tried opening the file into Acrobat, but it said Acrobat could not open because it is either not a supported file type or the file has been damaged.

Here is what I did...

I found this link: http://en.allexperts.com/q/Adobe-Illustrator-1027/open-ai-file.htm

I placed the .ai file into InDesign then exported it as an .eps file. It now opens in Illustrator. There are no text boxes, just those blue lines (I don't remember what that is called), but I can edit text.

I saved as a .ai file and it opens.

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