Expert: Amy - 1/30/2009

Question
HI I am getting the following error when I open a file in Illustrator. " The
operation could not complete because of an unknown error. [NEST]" This file
was created on a mac in CS2 and had those problems. Then the file was given
to me and opened on a CS3 with the same error message.

Not only does this occur when I open the file but alo when I try to rescale or
make other modifications. This also seems to be affecting some strokes and
brush strokes. Ill open the file and find that the wrong color stroke and style
of the brush stroke was used.  

Answer
Hi Aliea,

It seems that the file is corrupt. Once this happens, you just have to save what you can. But the NEST part is throwing me. I've never seen that. The brush stroke part is interesting. Perhaps there is a problem with the brush styles. See if you can delete all the unused brushes and swatches and see if it still happens. Do you know how to do that? There's an action in the Actions window that you can run to do it automatically. Look for "Delete Unused Panel Items."

And, if you can open it, why not copy everything and paste it into a new document? Will that work?

You are only having this problem on the one file, right?

If you would like, you can email it to me (if it is under 20MB) at AmyLynPace@yahoo.com and I can see if I can open it and if I get the same error.

-Amy