Expert: Kevin Stohlmeyer - 5/27/2008

Question
QUESTION: i have saved an illustrator file which is about 44 MB big.
no warning appeared, i've been working on that file for a view days and had NO problems.
now i cannot open it anymore.
the warning appearing says:
"the illustration can not be opened.the operation can not be completed."
the file's size is the same as before and the preview in adobe bridge shows the hole file's content.
also the data-save version from one day before the day I saved the file latest, can not be opened!!!
do i have any possibility to repair this file???
thank you!


ANSWER: Hi Steffi,

Bridge will show you a preview, because that is realistically a tiny little snapshot that saves out first when you save.

This sounds like an application problem.

Hopefully, you have already tried restarting your computer and then opening only Illustrator.

If you did and it failed, Reset your prefs for Illustrator, hold shift+ctrl+alt (option+apple mac) when you start up illustrator. This will restore all factory settings.

Next, you can try to open this up on another computer and see if it opens.

Finally, you can place this in an InDesign doc and see if it works. If it doesn't place, it may be your file and there is little you can do to save it.

I still feel this is just an application hiccup since your other file will not open as well.

Without knowing what operation system/version you are using, I cant tell you more.

Kevin

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: hi kevin.

thank you so far!

i am using adobe illustrator cs2 for pc.

i already tried to open the file on other pcs, i reinstalled my illustrator...

no chance!?

Answer
Hi Steffi,

Does your other file open on another PC, or are both corrupted?

This might seem silly, but try changing the suffix to .eps or .ai depending on what you saved it as, it might jar something when it opens.

Otherwise, try to place it in InDesign or Photoshop, if it fails, I hate to say it, but it may be lost...

Kevin