when reopening saved AI file layers are missing

[jamese62713680]

Hi, last night I saved an illustrator v24.1.1 file with 8-9 layers on it. When I reopened the file this morning to continue working on it there was only one layer! What do I do?

[Ton Frederiks]

If you save a file in AI 2020 and open it in CC2019 (or earlier), the pdf part is opened and you get only one layer. Open the file in Illustrator 2020.

You could have also save the file as PDF without checking "Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities" in which case the layers (and lots of other stuff) are gone.

[Garrett5F94]

This just happened to me last night. I think about 9 layers. Illustrator was acting a bit buggy, occassionally freezing up (not responding) for a few seconds, but it was a very large artboard with large assets, so I figured I was bogging down my system. Saved fine that night, no crash. I reopen it in the morning and there's only two layers that comprise a background and everything else is gone. Illustrator acts fine like nothing is wrong. Here's the kicker. When I open just Illustrator and no project file, I can see my recent projects. The bugged project file thumbnail shows the missing layers! But alas, when opening it I get the same result... Is there anything I can do to try fix this?

[Met1]

What do you see in preview mode?

[Garrett5F94]

I'm not sure I understand what you mean. I know of several preview modes, which one are you referring to?

[Garrett5F94]

Here are some screenshots if it's helpful. First one is what I see when I open the project. The image doesn't show the layers but there are only two, one for the owl and one for the gradients. 

The second image is a crop from the Illustrator homepage where I can see the recent projects. This is the thumbnail where you can clearly see content on top.

I appreciate you jumping in to help!

[Garrett5F94]

Sorry I'm not sure why the first image isn't there. Here it is:

[Monika Gause]

So you are on Windows. That means that the preview on the Homescreen probably does not tell you a lot.

Of course your can try the following. Foirst of all: do not save the file before closing it. Make a copy of the file. THen create a new file and Place your corrupt Illustrator file in it. Does that now show the missing content? It probably is not very well editable, but at least it's not gone.

Turn off Save in background in the Illustrator preferneces.

And make backups, save different versions.

[Garrett5F94]

Thanks for the advice. I gave it a try but to no avail. How does Save in Background play into this?

[Monika Gause]

For a couple of people "Save in background" caused issues when saving files and prevented them from saving correctly. Pretty much like what you are experiencing.

@Anshul_Saini  cyn you please take a look?

[Met1]

My apologies, I meant outline - Ctrl+Y (aka wireframe)...

I'm thinking that if you can see art in outline mode, then at least it's there, it's just hidden - you just have to work out why...

[Garrett5F94]

Naw unfortunately the outline reveal there's nothing else there. Thanks though.

[Anshul_Saini]

Hi @Garrett5F94,

I'm sorry to hear about the trouble you're experiencing with missing layers in your Illustrator file. This can be a frustrating experience. I agree with what Monika has said, do not close before the file is completely saved.

To further investigate the issue, would you mind confirming where the file was saved/the exact location with the path (Network Drive/ System HDD/ Shared Folder on System/ External HDD)?

Also, check the layers panel and make sure the missing layers aren't hidden or locked. If the layers are still missing, try using the "File > Place" command to import the missing assets into a new Illustrator document.

If this doesn't help, and you don't have any copy of the file, then probably the file didn't save properly and led to data loss.

I will be looking forward to your response.

Best,

Anshul Saini

[Garrett5F94]

Hi Anshul, the file is located on an external drive. Here's the path: O:\Hoot Owl Media\HOM Graphics

Regarding layers, unless there's a way to make them completely invisible from the layers panel with a trick to revealing them, (like finding "Library" on a Mac OS) there doesn't seem to be anything other than the two layers that form the background. Please let me know if that's possible.

I imagine that the final save was somehow corrupted, considering the thumbnail is still accurate.  I didn't establish a version history in CC so I might be dead in the water. At least it wasn't paid work for a client and was simply me messing around for too long. I turned off "Save in Background" as @Monika Gause suggested (thanks!) as that seems to be the most logical explanation, and hopefully it doesn't happen again.

I'm primarily a video editor so my due diligance of protecting project files is a bit lacking in Illustrator. I've been incredibly impressed at it's recovery if it crashes, so I thought I was more or less safe. But it didn't crash, so no recovery was prompted. I am wondering why it doesn't have an autosave vault locally and instead relying on CC for a version history. Anybody have insight on that?

Anyways, thanks for all your help everyone! I always find this community helpful and responsive, but I guess we can't win them all!

-Garrett

[Anshul_Saini · Accepted solution]

Thanks for providing the path to the external drive where the file was located, @Garrett5F94. However, I must inform you that using external and network drives to save Illustrator files is not recommended or supported by Adobe due to unknown variables that can lead to data loss, as you have experienced (https://helpx.adobe.com/in/illustrator/kb/illustrator-support-networks-removable-media.html). It's best to save your files locally on your computer's hard drive and then move it to external or network drives.

Regarding your question about making layers utterly invisible from the Layers panel, there isn't a way to do or undo that. If the layers are entirely missing from the Layers panel, they were somehow lost or corrupted during the save process.

Also, regarding your comment about Illustrator's autosave feature, it's important to note that the program does have an autosave feature that saves a backup of your document at a specified interval. However, these backup files are stored locally on your computer and act as recovery files, not history versions like in cloud documents. Additionally, the feature is not a replacement for regular saving, so saving your work manually as you go is still essential.

I hope this information is helpful to you. If you have any further questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out.

Best,

Anshul Saini

Note: Marking correct for visibility.

[Garrett5F94]

Hi Anshul,

1. Yea I think most programs recommend using internal for that very reason, but for production I haven't found that suitable for the amount of TB's I accumulate across projects, so I've opted for an external RAID. 

2. Yea I figured that about the layers but definitely didn't want to assume.

3. Yes, I'm aware it has an auto-save feature and I definitely use it. I'm just referring to how it autosaves over the same file rather than acting as Premiere would which creates a vault of past project files locally as well. Should anything happen to my current file like this instance, I have something like 10 past versions stored separately and by default (it's part of setting up a new project, rather than something you have to turn on like CC versions). However I can see how that might not make sense overall for Illustrator as it doesn't have nearly as many crashes and hiccups as Premiere. Probably because Premiere has an immense amount of source files, proxy files, render files, dynamic links, and meta data to keep sorted out, something Illustrator doesn't have to do.

Now I'm just ranting shop talk, apologies. Thanks again for all your help!