THIS FILE HAS BEEN MODIFIED OUTSIDE ILLUSTRATOR??

[Todd_Morgan]

PLEASE FIX THIS SOMETIME SOON....

[Monika Gause]

Which Windows is this?

Where has the file been saved?

Is the preview in the Explorer visible. You might want to turn it off.

[Anubhav M]

Hello @Todd Morgan,

Sorry to hear about your experience. Would you mind sharing some more details, like the exact version of the OS/Illustrator, the file/folder location, and details about your workflow, as suggested by Monika, so we can investigate this further?

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,

Anubhav

[ELPrepress]

I was browsing other answers (update to latest version mostly) but my version of AI is 28.1 and well beyond what was previously referenced.

I can Save As... a file and then seconds later hit Save and get the "This file has been modified outside Illustrator." error.  Yes, I'm saving to a network drive, but there is no one mucking with my files in the 1.5 seconds it took to test if this would pop up again. I'm running Sonoma 14.1.2 [I wish I hadn't had to update since it is making all sorts of problems with inDesign, but I had to update because I had other softeware that was refusing to work with the older OS].  The only thing running that could be considered a plug in would be my Connect Fonts application.

Why are we getting this error and is there a way to stop it?

[Monika Gause]

The fact that you are saving to a network drive alone can cause that.

[ELPrepress]

Could you explain then, why it wouldn't happen with every file?  It seems to happen most with files created in an older version of Illustrator.

[Monika Gause]

You should check that out with your IT specialist.

[ELPrepress]

Thanks, that is me. lol Unfortunately, as our former IT employee died, I have had to assume what of that role I can manage. However only getting network errors with older versions of Illustrator does not seem like something he would have been able to answer either.

[Monika Gause]

So you open the old files and then just save them (not Save as)? ANd then the error happens?

And with new files this doesn't happen? Then perhaps Save as all your old files, which ports them to the new version. With just saving they stay in the old version.

[ELPrepress]

I hate trouble shooting these things.  Actually, no.  I didn't start getting the error until I saved them into the format of the current version of Illustrator.  The other strange thing that I can't seem to pinpoint is why the error seems associated with all the files of that particular job, but not many others. I was getting extremely frustrated as it seemed all files were throwing the error, but I was working on a project for an annual event: table tents, programs, tickets, etc.  I got to thinking that I hadn't been plagued with it since that project was printed.   I thought perhaps it had something to do with them being worked last year on a windows machine while I was on leave, but I opened a different and much older file she had also done without incident.  I pulled random other files from 3+ years ago and couldn't get the error. So it looks like I have to save a file from version 27.1 to 28.2 and then every save after that throws "This has been modified outside of Illustrator"

[Monika Gause]

There are the things you can try:

https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/kb/illustrator-support-networks-removable-media.html

It is generally not recommended to directly save to a network with Illustrator and that's that.