Expert: Amy - 6/10/2004

Question
I am working in Illustrator 9, OS 9.2. I created a document in Illustrator that had a psd image in it, and a couple eps's. I saved the document and it was less than 10 MB, but when I when to open it the next day, Illustrator gives me a message that says "Not enough memory to open the Illustration."  I have increased the memory in Illustrator quite a bit, and increased the Virtual Memory on my computer, but I am still unable to open the document. I can bring it into Photoshop, but I am unable to edit it (since it is all one layer). I have had this happen before, and got around it by opening the Ill file on another computer and resaving. However, when I tried it this time, that did not work. I was wondering if this is common in Illustrator 9, and if there is a way to solve it. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks, Lauren

Answer
Hi Lauren,

Yes, I think it's pretty common but I don't think it's really a memory issue.  I think AI is encountering something in the file that it cannot interpret - most likely something related to the images.  Are they embedded or linked?

Have you tried quitting AI, locating the AIprefs file and throwing it in the trash and restarting AI?

Virtual memory, I believe, should be turned off in this instance, instead of increased.  AI 9 (and 10 and CS) tends to have problems with it.

I'd like you to try these two things while I research this a big more.  I'll add another response as soon as I figure something out here.  I'd tell you to send me the file but it's BIG and I have a file size limit in my accounts of 6 megs at a time (yahoo).  Do you have a website you can upload it to and let me get it off there?

-Amy Pace

ADDENDUM

Hi again Lauren,

Here's a trick you can try.

Change the file extension of the damaged Illustrator file from .ai to .pdf, and then PLACE the file into a new Illustrator file.  Then I'd re-place those embedded graphics and re-save it.

-Amy Pace