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Adobe Illustrator/Can't open .ai file in e-mail attachment - weird graphics in Picture Manager

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Expert: - 10/21/2008


Question

Screen shot of opened
When I try to open an .ai file attachment in my e-mail, my Picture Manager opens up (not Illustrator) and shows a full page of what appears to be small graphics from websites that have been visited in the past, along with a few pictures that I recognize from my Pictures folder. This problem exists whether I use IE-7 or Firefox 3.0.3.

I experienced this same problem several months ago and it seemed to resolve itself after a few days. But now, even my older e-mail attachments that were opened in Illustrator when received open in that same Picture Manager window.

I uninstalled AI and reinstalled to no avail.

Help! I really need to open these files. Last night I finally right clicked, saved it to my desktop - right clicked on the desktop file and chose "open with". That worked, but what a hassle!

What's going on here Kevin?
By the way, thanks so much for your generous time. You're appreciated.
Cindy Davis


Answer
Ah the joys of Microsoft Cindy,

The issue is with your e-mail application, not Illustrator and unfortunately it is a common error.

Do not reinstall again, it wont fix this. You will always need to save this to your desktop as your e-mail is encoding the ai files into something unrecognizable as an illustrator doc.

I would disable the picture manager entirely and if there is a preference in your e-mail to list applications and extensions to open you can assign illustrator to AI docs. However, my rule is to always download the file to the desktop and then open in AI.

Thanks

Kevin
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Kevin Stohlmeyer

Expertise

I am an Adobe Certified Instructor. I can answer all your questions about Adobe Illustrator version 8 through the new Adobe CS5 versions.

Experience

I am an Adobe Certified Instructor for Adobe Illustrator and have been teaching this application to college students for the past 6 years. I now teach this as a corporate instructor.

Organizations
Milwaukee Adobe Users Group National Association of Photoshop Professionals C2 Graphics Productivity Solutions

Education/Credentials
BA - Graphic Design Adobe Certified Instructor - Illustrator Adobe Community Professional

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