Artboards missing after save, can't get them back

[corrijo]

Hi, using CC 2017.

I had a file with 4 artboards and 20 layers for each language. It was a .pdf that I created originally in Illustrator and only used in Illustrator.

I saved it today in the usual way and somehow now when I open the file in Illustrator, it won't open all the artboards (it asks me which page I'd like to open), and it's removed all the layers that were hidden.

I have tried my legacy files in dropbox to no avail. Renaming to .ai, etc.

I can see that the file size hasn't changed, so the information must still be contained in the file.

How do I get my artboards and layers back?

[Jacob Bugge]

corrijo,

I am afraid you are only getting access to the PDF part, or you have inadvertedly saved it as PDF only.

Your mentioning the .pdf may indicate the latter, in which case that is what you are left with, unless you have the (full) AI version somewhere else.

In the former case, it sounds like a hopefully less unfortunate matter of file corruption, see below.

Here are some websites where you can see whether it can rescue the actual file, and if it can, you may pay for a subscription to have it done,

http://www.recoverytoolbox.com/buy_illustrator.html

http://markzware.com/adobe-software/fix-illustrator-file-unknown-error-occurred-pdf2dtp-file-recover...

http://www.illustrator.fixtoolbox.com/

As far as I remember, the first one is for Win and the second one is for Mac, while the third one should be for both.

Here are a few pages about struggling with it yourself:

http://daxxter.wordpress.com/2009/04/16/how-to-recover-a-corrupted-illustrator-ai-file/

http://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/kb/troubleshoot-damaged-illustrator-files.html

http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/500/cpsid_50032.html

http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/500/cpsid_50031.html

http://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/kb/enable-content-recovery-mode-illustrator.html

[corrijo]

Thanks Jacob, very comprehensive list of great info!

I wasn't able to get the file to open correctly again, however I was able to find an archived version on Dropbox and I renamed the .pdf to an ".ai" file. Then it opened fine, albeit without the last several weeks of edits.

[chanaart]

This is the correct answer!!! Jacob is right!

Make sure when you save files in AI always ave 2 versions. One original AI and one PDF.

This will avoid problems in the future!!

chana

[Jacob Bugge]

You are welcome, corrijo.