Work gone after relocating file

Forum|Forum|3 years ago
August 23, 2022
3 replies
499 views

It has happened to me a few times now: I safe and close the Illustrator file. I relocate the file to another map to keep my desktop better organized. I open the illustrator file again and a lot of work will be missing.

Does anyone know how this is possible and if I can get this work back?

Bug

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Monika Gause

Community Expert

Is it an AI file?

Did you save it with "PDF compatiblity"?

If you open that file in Acrobat, is everything still there?

Anshul_Saini

Community Manager

Hi there,

We are sorry to hear about your experience. Would you mind checking if Packing (File > Package) the file and then moving to another location helps or not?

If it doesn't, would you mind confirming where you are relocating your files (Network Drive/ System HDD/ Shared Folder on System/ External HDD)?

We are here to help. We just need more info.

Regards,
Anshul Saini

M

M257767148ge6Author

Participant

I will try packing the file for next time i'll be moving my files, thank you for the tip.

For now I'm just looking to get my work back but can't find anything or can't seem to make it work, unfortunately. I'm just relocating the file from one folder to a subfolder inside that same folder. I'm not relocating it to another drive or system. Hope the way I describe it sounds clear.

Disposition_Dev

Legend

let's see if i understand.. You have an ai file in a folder, and there's also a subfolder within that folder. You open up the .ai file from the parent folder, then save as and select the subfolder. You click ok and close the file. Then when you open the file again... all the artwork is gone?

Or you built a file and saved it to your desktop, then moved it into a subfolder using finder/explorer and then artwork was missing when you opened it again?

Can you share the file that you're trying to move?

Is ALL the artwork gone and the file is just empty? Or is only some of the artwork missing? Am i completely misunderstanding the issue?

What version of illustrator are you using? Was the file that you're opening/saving created in a different version of illustrator (or perhaps a different vector app all together like inkscape or corel?)

Are you saving .ai files? or .svg or .eps or .pdf?

The more i re-read your post and comments, and the more i think about it... i'm almost certain you have linked/placed images/artwork in the file that are addressed to a filepath relative to the desktop, then when you're trying to open the file from the subfolder, the necessary assets don't exist in the same relative location and as such are not displayed when looking at the file... Do you get any dialogs when you open the file? If so, what do they say? Can you share a screenshot of your "Links" panel before and after the move?