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HELP! Illegal operand error - can't open file! (v.2)

Community Beginner ,
Sep 04, 2008 Sep 04, 2008

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I have a file that I've done about 40 hours on since last duplicating it. It's been saved multiple times, and successfully. Now, however the file seems to be corrupt. I'm getting the following error message when opening it:

Cant open the illustration. The illustration contains an illegal operand.
Offending operator: ((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((

After i last closed the file, i've defragged my hard drive because it's been sluggish. Ive also deleted a couple of random temp files that I'm now thinking may have been in regards to the Ai file. Does anyone have any ideas on what i can do to open this file (preferable) or anything else?
Thanks in advance for any help or info you can provide!
Ben
(ps-this is my second posting of this - frantically trying to fix this and didn't pay attention to what i was typing. i forgot to mention a few things so i just resubmitted rather than constantly adding messages. thanks for understanding ;)

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Adobe
Community Expert ,
Sep 04, 2008 Sep 04, 2008

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Ben,

Corrupted files are difficult. The first and simplest thing to try is to place it in a new document.

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Community Beginner ,
Sep 04, 2008 Sep 04, 2008

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well, I've tried opening it, placing it in multiple programs and can't get it to even open. any other ideas or do you know of a way to "force open" it or something? This is on a PC by the way, if that makes a difference.

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Explorer ,
Sep 04, 2008 Sep 04, 2008

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Ben:

Jacob suggested that you make a new blank document in AI and then File> Place the old .ai document into it. Did you try this?

steve

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Community Expert ,
Sep 05, 2008 Sep 05, 2008

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Hi Steve, when shall we be going nuts, or rather acorns?

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Community Beginner ,
Sep 05, 2008 Sep 05, 2008

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hi steve -
sorry about that - i had replied to your email yesterday and i guess it didn't send. Anyway, yes, i had already tried this. I tried placing it into a blank page and it gave me an error saying it had no PDF content - wouldn't place anything. I've also tried placing it in other apps as well. any other ideas?

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New Here ,
Sep 19, 2008 Sep 19, 2008

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Hi all,
I'm having a similar issue - layers are missing now. I'm using Illustrator CS3 on XP. I saved my file (often!) yesterday but today when I opened it I got:

Can't open the illustration. The illustration contains an illegal or misplaced operator.
Offending operator: "U"
Context:

U
% /ArtDictionary:
%;
%
9()XW
U

I've tried placing it in a new file, opening with older versions of Illustrator, as well as Photoshop, etc. One thing I haven't seen mentioned elsewhere is that if I open Illustrator, and File->Open, the whole layout appears in the preview window (including the missing layers).

Thanks all,
mike

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New Here ,
Jun 06, 2019 Jun 06, 2019

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I am having similar issue, if I try to open file it says it is damaged and can't be repaired but I can see entire contents intact in folder window preview panel prior to attempting to open.  I tried placing in new file, opening in other programs even paid to repair apps to fix only to get minimal content when I manage to open it and get error messages such offending operator Ae etc.... for one and a different offending operator 5d ....  for the other app I used .  Any suggestions.  thanks

ps if I could just recover the completed pattern swatch I placed in swatch palette It's all O really need

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Community Expert ,
Jun 06, 2019 Jun 06, 2019

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If even the recover services can't recover it,then chances are slim.

Is the pattern only in the panel or have you applied it to an object and is that object in the embedded PDF?

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New Here ,
Jun 06, 2019 Jun 06, 2019

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Hi, it's in the panel,also pulled put of the panel in file but outside artboard and applied to a bounding box outside artboard too.

I can see it all still there in preview pane but won't open,  recovery service only managed to recover a few elements on their own

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New Here ,
Jun 06, 2019 Jun 06, 2019

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not sure if problem is I pasted in some images I opened in paint and those original files were deleted .  I don't even require those images, they were just for reference

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Community Expert ,
Jun 06, 2019 Jun 06, 2019

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sherrim15839244  schrieb

Hi, it's in the panel,also pulled put of the panel in file but outside artboard and applied to a bounding box outside artboard too.

I can see it all still there in preview pane but won't open,  recovery service only managed to recover a few elements on their own

The preview (on Windows) is a raster image embedded in the Ai file. Won't help you.

Where do you save your files?

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New Here ,
Jun 06, 2019 Jun 06, 2019

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ah, I see.  files are saved on pc but I permanently deleted some images that were pasted into it which hasn't been an issue before.  Thanks for your replies btw.

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Community Expert ,
Jun 06, 2019 Jun 06, 2019

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Deleting linked files should usually just make Illustrator present you with a missing file pop up.

Corrupted files are usually caused by:

- saving directly to networked volumes

- sending files via e-mail without zipping them first

- using corrupt fonts

- corrupted brushes, swatches etc (this tends to happen in very old files. such as "20 years old")

- saving directly to USB drives

- saving to synchronized folders

- bad disks (hardware issues)

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New Here ,
Jun 06, 2019 Jun 06, 2019

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none of these should apply, I did make a brush I forgot to save to library.   I did want to show a preview of pattern to someone and made a quick tiff and am thinking now maybe that corrupted it, the tiff can be opened but obviously not format I need to alter elements

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Community Expert ,
Jun 06, 2019 Jun 06, 2019

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sherrim15839244  schrieb

none of these should apply, I did make a brush I forgot to save to library.   I did want to show a preview of pattern to someone and made a quick tiff and am thinking now maybe that corrupted it, the tiff can be opened but obviously not format I need to alter elements

TIFFs are exported. Unless you saved it to the same location using the very same filename (including file extension), exporting a TIFF shouldn't cause issues.

But nevertheless it looks like your file is gone.

Please do always remember to make backups. Don't you have backup utility running on your computer? Such as Time Machine or the like (Time Machine is a MacOS app, but there are similar ones for Windows).

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Community Beginner ,
Jun 06, 2019 Jun 06, 2019

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If it is gone (so sorry!), any chance you can live trace the TIFF pattern in AI?

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Community Expert ,
Sep 19, 2008 Sep 19, 2008

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This would be one for Teri.

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New Here ,
Sep 25, 2008 Sep 25, 2008

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We are having similar problems in one of our labs at school.

Cant open the illustration. The illustration contains an illegal operand.
Offending operator: "BRK/Stranded-(BRK 0 0 0 TZ
%Al3_EndEncoding True Type
%Al55J_Tsume: None
%Al3_BeginEncoding: _Submarine Submarine
[/_Submarine/Submarine 0 0 0 TZ
%Al3_EndEncoding True Type
%Al55J_Tsume: None
%Al3_BeginEncoding: _Swiss911BT-Extra

Any suggestions?

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New Here ,
Mar 07, 2009 Mar 07, 2009

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hi I've similar problem too.

Can't open the illustration. The illustration contains an illegal or misplaced operator.

Offending operator: "U"
Context:

% ;
%
9 () XW
LB
%AI5_EndLayer--
U

what is that mean????
I have a PC, windows Vista platform and Illustrator CS4.

pleeeeease help!!!

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Community Expert ,
Mar 07, 2009 Mar 07, 2009

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>what is that mean????

It means that the file is corrupted. Unless you can place it in a new document, or Teri turns up with the solution, the file is probably lost.

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New Here ,
Mar 09, 2009 Mar 09, 2009

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AAARRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!

here's mine:
Offending Operator: '%AI3_EndEncoding TrueType'
Context:

[/_C&CRedAlert[INET] 0 0 0 TZ
%AI3_EndEncoding TrueType

I can see that it's a font issue. i've uninstalled the font. still wont open. so i opened the code in Word and cannot find the linesearched for endcoding and truetype, etc. (not that i would know what to do if i found iti guess i thought i might delete it??)

anyone?? Teri??

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New Here ,
Aug 18, 2009 Aug 18, 2009

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I am also getting this Error.

Offending Operator: '%AI3_EndEncoding TrueType'
Context:

[/_C&CRedAlert[LAN] 0 0 0 TZ
%AI3_EndEncoding TrueType 

The stupid thing is, I didn't like the font, so I stopped using it in the document. It shouldn't even be in the file anymore, but still managed to corrupt it.

I opened the file in textEdit but I can't find the string for that font.

I can't even find the '%AI3_EndEncoding TrueType' string.

I have placed the file into a new illustrator document, but it breaks apart all of my layers into a million groups.

So Im trying to leave that as a last resort.

Any body else have any luck?

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LEGEND ,
Aug 18, 2009 Aug 18, 2009

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You might try opening it in Acrobat and saving with a new name and then opening that in Illustrator.

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New Here ,
Mar 09, 2009 Mar 09, 2009

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oh. i thought i would add that i am a mac user. in case it makes any difference. CS3.

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