Why is Illustrator opening an old version of my file?

[azip13]

It is opening an older version of the file I was working on. There's definitely only one file (not opening an earlier version I saved somewhere else or anything) so I am opening the correct one.

When I close it, the thumbnail of the file is the correct version under "Recent", but when I try and open it from there, it's the older version again.

I know I saved it correctly because I've quit and reopened it the other day and it was all correct. Today however is a different story..

Super frustrating, I hope someone can help me.

Thanks!

[Monika Gause]

Depending on the system the thumbnail is either taken from the PDF part of the file or it is saved as a picture inside the file.

Please tell us what happened when you last edited the file. Did Illustrator crash? Show you some weird dialog boxes? Where did you save your file? On a server?

Do you have a backup?

[azip13]

Nothing had happened. Just ended up quitting when I was done.

And I'm not aware of having a backup, I'd just been working with the one file.

[Monika Gause]

azip13  schrieb

And I'm not aware of having a backup, I'd just been working with the one file.

That is an issue in itself. You hould always make backups.

Where do you save your files?

[azip13]

Yeah, I'm realizing this now haha. Rookie move.

I always just save everything to my desktop.

[Monika Gause]

Is your desktop synchronized by anything? Illustrator has issues with some synchronizing tools.

Also you didn't tell us your system - are there perhaps spaces, mutliple desktops set up or whatever tool Apple has to offer?

What did likely happen was that Illustrator could save the PDF part of the file, but didn't correctly save the AI part.

You can make it open the PDF part of the file by creating a new file and placing the problem file in that (embed). Then ungroup, release clipping masks etc. Issue with that is that effects and any live artwork gets expanded. So you might just want to use this to retrieve the missing parts and copy those into the AI file.

[azip13]

I guess my desktop does sync with the iCloud (I'm running MacOS 10.14.3 beta) but I'm not entirely sure how to differentiate where the newer version of the file would be.

I embedded the problem file in a new file, ungrouped and released all clipping masks but it just looks the same. Did I do something incorrectly?

I really appreciate your help with all this.

[Monika Gause · Accepted solution]

azip13  schrieb

I guess my desktop does sync with the iCloud (I'm running MacOS 10.14.3 beta) but I'm not entirely sure how to differentiate where the newer version of the file would be.

a beta system might be another issue. Illustrator is not yet tested on it so nobody knows what possible issues might be. I suppose you have access to Apple's bugbase, so this incident would definitely be something to report there. Also please post to http://illustrator.uservoice.com

The issue with synching is that in some situations it throws off Illustrator completely. This includes different synching apps and services on Windows and Mac. For some they work, for some they don't.

[Nilmar27411648swvy]

I have the same problem as AZIP13 and I can't recover my file

[Mara from DT]

I'm having the same issue too. Saved the file and shut down my laptop. This morning, it's showing the right image in the recents thumbnail but when I open it it's all clipped into the artboard and all my logo iterations are lost. 

[Monika Gause]

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@Mara from DT  schrieb:

I'm having the same issue too. Saved the file and shut down my laptop. This morning, it's showing the right image in the recents thumbnail but when I open it it's all clipped into the artboard and all my logo iterations are lost. 

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Illustrator has opened the PDF part of the file. THis is a sign that your file got corrupted. Where did you save it? On a network server?

ALso: Turn off "Save in background" in the preferences.

[Mara from DT]

I saved it to my local storage. It's on my laptop (MBP 2019), no backups yet. What can I do? All the logos I created are lost then?

[Monika Gause]

They are probably lost. Maybe @Anshul_Saini  can help? 

Sometimes in some rare cases they can recover files. 

[Anshul_Saini]

Hello @Mara from DT,

I'm sorry to hear about the issue you're facing with your Illustrator file. If it shows the correct image in the thumbnail but opens with clipping and missing logo iterations, this indicates that the file might be corrupted, as Monika said.

This generally happens when AI Private data is removed/ corrupted due to interruption at saving. Hence, you see the PDF data, which is stored on the main Artboard. Anything outside the Artboard area on other artboards gets corrupted. What you are seeing is the recovered PDF data.

The recovery options might be limited since you saved it to your local storage and have no backups. However, as Monika suggested, please share the file with me, and I will take a look at it.

In the future, it's a good practice to regularly back up your important design files to prevent such data loss incidents.

Best regards,
Anshul Saini