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Igor Skliarevsky
Participating Frequently
April 14, 2018
Answered

Error: “Can’t open the illustration”

  • April 14, 2018
  • 5 replies
  • 24520 views

I’m trying to open an .ai file with Adobe Illustrator CC 2018 (Mac OS 10.13.3). It shows the popup “Can’t open the illustration.” I click on “OK” button and the file opens, but there are no any text layers. I see the text layers on preview in Finder, in Dropbox. The text layers are visible if open the file with Adobe Acrobat, but Illustrators simply deletes all the text layers when I open the file in it. The font used in the text layers is Acumin Variable if it’s essential.

      This topic has been closed for replies.
      Correct answer angie_taylor

      And, have you tried resetting the preferences file for Illustrator? Always the first thing to check.

      Also, do you have access to another computer, or another version of Illustrator, will it open in that?

      Does it open in Photoshop?

      You could download the trial of Affinity Designer and see if you can open it in that? If you can then save it as a new file and try it again in AI>

      Affinity - Professional creative software

      5 replies

      D
      Dan Altuz
      Participating Frequently
      March 29, 2023

      I was having the same exact problem.  For me, the file was made "online-only".  As soon as I right clicked and made it available offline I was good to go!  Hopefully this helps.

      angie_taylor
      angie_taylor
      Legend
      April 14, 2018

      Perhaps you could preflight the PDF in Acrobat? That way it might tell you more about the font issue.

      Not sure if there’s a way of forcing Illustrator to substitute a font but it may be worth Googling it to see?

      angie_taylor
      angie_taylorCorrect answer
      Legend
      April 14, 2018

      And, have you tried resetting the preferences file for Illustrator? Always the first thing to check.

      Also, do you have access to another computer, or another version of Illustrator, will it open in that?

      Does it open in Photoshop?

      You could download the trial of Affinity Designer and see if you can open it in that? If you can then save it as a new file and try it again in AI>

      Affinity - Professional creative software

      I
      Igor SkliarevskyAuthor
      Participating Frequently
      April 14, 2018

      Could you please specify which preferences I need to reset?

      Unfortunately, I haven’t access to another computer.

      Yes, it opens in Photoshop, flattened, but the text is presented.

      Tried to open the file in Affinity Designer. The text layers that use other fonts, not Acumin Variable Concept, are presented and editable. All the layers that used the Acumin Variable Concept disappeared just like in Adobe Illustrator. So it looks like the problem is related to that new variable font

        angie_taylor
        angie_taylor
        Legend
        April 14, 2018

        Yes, you may need to substitute the font? Then it should work.

        angie_taylor
        angie_taylor
        Legend
        April 14, 2018

        Have you tried dragging and dropping it into a new file?

        angie_taylor
        angie_taylor
        Legend
        April 14, 2018

        If it opens in Acrobat it must be a PDf, not an AI file. Try changing the file extension to .pdf and then try opening it in AI again. Let me know if that works for you.

        I
        Igor SkliarevskyAuthor
        Participating Frequently
        April 14, 2018

        Thank you, but changing the extension was the first I tried. It didn’t help. It is definitely AI file, not PDF. I created this file by myself in Adobe Illustrator.

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