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can't open the illustration. There is not enough room for the window; increase document area and try

Community Beginner ,
Apr 07, 2010 Apr 07, 2010

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Hi,

I'm in CS4 and trying to open an eps file and get the message:

Can't open the illustration. There is not enough room for the window; increase document area and try again.

The file won't even open, and I've never had this message before. Does anyone know how to fix or deal with this?

Thanks,

Michael

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correct answers 1 Correct answer

Community Beginner , Jul 01, 2014 Jul 01, 2014

I've just had the same problem. The illustrator windows shrunk and and said won't open it but then if you maximize the window it will do. WEIIIIIRRDDD but works!

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LEGEND ,
Apr 07, 2010 Apr 07, 2010

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I never have seen this error either.

What platform and version?

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Community Beginner ,
Apr 07, 2010 Apr 07, 2010

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AI CS4 on a Mac G5 OS 10.5.8 dual 2GHz

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LEGEND ,
Apr 07, 2010 Apr 07, 2010

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First try this and se if it works

1. Quit Illustrator.
2.Go to User/username/Library/Preferences/ Adobe illustrator CS4 Settings and trash the settings folder, the whole folder not just the contents of the folder..
3. Start Illustrator. Illustrator creates a new preferences file.

If that does not work then create a new user account and log into that user account and see if the same thing happens.

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New Here ,
Mar 23, 2011 Mar 23, 2011

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For me, the problem was being created by something that, in retrospect, makes complete sense, but is also rediculous!

The main application window was sized too small. That's it, that's all. I've been keeping the files I have open in windows detached from the main window and had apparently sized it too small vertically—I was attempting to save some wasted space so I could see windows below Ai.

I was able to faithfully recreate the issue by sizing the window as small vertically as is allowed, attempting to open a file and getting the error; then immediately increasing the window's size and attempting to open again—this time successfully!

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New Here ,
Nov 14, 2012 Nov 14, 2012

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Such a simple solution, I can't believe I didn't think of it myself...

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New Here ,
Nov 19, 2012 Nov 19, 2012

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This is tacky. Yes, I know that there are a few workarounds (deleting settings, or sticking only to Ctrl+O dialog window), but they're all a very sloppy solution by Adobe. They're touting that with "Illustrator CS6, we reworked all panels and dialogues from the ground-up", yet this problem keeps plaguing us all the way back from before CS4. When is Adobe going to take this issue seriously? It's been years!

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New Here ,
Sep 29, 2021 Sep 29, 2021

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this really helped!! thahnk you sooo much

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New Here ,
Jul 06, 2011 Jul 06, 2011

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This happened to me, too. Tried resizing the window and it didn't work. Incredibly disappointing that this could happen. Why could I work on the file before, save it close it, then not be able to re-open it. I have lost a lot of work on this file. Could somebody please help?

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LEGEND ,
Sep 02, 2011 Sep 02, 2011

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Just by reading the other posts, since i don't have a Mac, would it be possible the screen resolution is set too low. I am trying to think of a situation where the document window needs to be larger than the apps window.

But when loading an eps file, the document should be zoomed out enough for it to fit within the apps window size. I can not think of a situation where the document would be zoomed out so far that it would hit the limits of illustrator. Though I suppose it could be possible.

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LEGEND ,
Sep 02, 2011 Sep 02, 2011

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another thought came to me, the document window could also hit the maximum document size, but you should have received an error when creating the file, not when loading it back in.

Maybe it is exactly just what Wade has said, the preference file has been corrupted.

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New Here ,
Sep 02, 2011 Sep 02, 2011

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I had this problem also, I realized that the window size literally was too small. I just dragged the window to the window size of my screen. then it worked!

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New Here ,
Feb 25, 2018 Feb 25, 2018

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thank you, i was tried with drag and drop and then it worked

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New Here ,
Jul 26, 2018 Jul 26, 2018

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Just drag it to the top part to its normal place and click the green expand button. the window will expand to the normal illustrator interface.

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Community Expert ,
Sep 03, 2011 Sep 03, 2011

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Resize the application window. Just grab its lower right corner and drag.

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New Here ,
Apr 26, 2012 Apr 26, 2012

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How do you increase the application window on a Mac? All you have is the document window, and the document can't open up.

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Community Expert ,
Apr 26, 2012 Apr 26, 2012

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Try turning off the Application Frame and the Application Bar from the Window menu and then try opening the file.

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New Here ,
Nov 13, 2012 Nov 13, 2012

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I just get this problem recently, and my solution is.

1. open a new file

2. change to full screen mode

3. command O to open the file with problem.

4. solved! yay!

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New Here ,
Feb 16, 2017 Feb 16, 2017

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Thank you so much it really helped!!

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New Here ,
Dec 17, 2012 Dec 17, 2012

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I'll add an update to this problem using a Windows 7 Toshiba laptop running CS6 - I began to recieve the same message and Illustrator would resize itself to 1"h x 5"w box in the upper left of my screen.  Illustrator itself would be hidden behind the error dialogue box.

This would happen when I'd select an Illustrator file in Windows Explorer.  The first workaround was to maximize Illustrator and open the file through the Illustrator File>Open dialogue.  This always worked.

The final fix was to manually resized illustrator to about 1/3 screen size and try to open the file again in Windows Explorer.  Finally the files would open from Windows Explorer.  Keep reading.

However, each time I opened a file Illustrator would do a little hula dance and resize a good bit smaller than what I'd manually set it to.  It took about 4 resizes and 4 opening of files  = each time resizing the illustrator window larger until it actually occupied the whole screen.  It's working normally now.

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New Here ,
Jan 27, 2013 Jan 27, 2013

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This error happened to me on Adobe Illustrator CS6 when I had 4 projects opened and I tried to open an SVG file. I saved all my work. Exited out. Double clicked on the SVG file and it opened.

I'm running a Dell Laptop with Windows 8 Pro 64-bit, i3 U330 (1.20GHz), 2GB RAM so it might have been a memory / CPU issue.

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New Here ,
Feb 28, 2013 Feb 28, 2013

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Thanks, I was fighting illCs6 (windows7) with the exact same problem as all of you, and jgr1128 solution solved it.

Crazy though, if at one point you close illustrator while the main frame too small (usually due to some crash/inexpected quit/...), it will remember it and reopen at the same size.

Open some files while fullscreen, then close illustrator, do that a few times and it will finally remember you want it fullscreen

Finally I can open smartobjects from photoshop and files from the explorer without ctrl-O or other stupid workaround breaking the workflow

Thanks again jgr1128

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Participant ,
Apr 01, 2013 Apr 01, 2013

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jgr1128's issue is what our graphic artist started having this last week with IL in CS6 fully patched (it actualy just patched itself then this started happening) on Win 7 64bit.  The main window would resize itself every time to be about 1x5 and would give this error every time.  Opening the file from the Open menu or dragging the file to the files tab worked but anytime they double clicked a file it would give this error.  Manually resizing the window and closing it fixed the issue.

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Explorer ,
Nov 05, 2013 Nov 05, 2013

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I has this issue, I thought it was a problem with a legacy version of illustrator and thats why the document wouldn't open. But infact it was a very simple bug within illustrator, the document window was not attached to the illustrator main window, it was minimised. I think if you try opening a blank document and dragging it up and attach it back to the illustrator window and then try opening the illsurator document you couldn't open before. It should work and you dont get the problem of the document not auto sizing when you try and open a new document.

Please adobe staff fix this error, if the document is not attached to the application window the document window should still auto re-size. This is a very irritating error.

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Explorer ,
Nov 14, 2013 Nov 14, 2013

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Thanks, your suggestion worked.

This is really weird problem

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