Expert: Amy - 10/10/2006

Question
We have a few networked PCs all using Illustrator CS. One of the computer has problem openning one Illustrator file and the error message is: "can't open the illustration." This is strange because all other computers can open the same file which means the file is not corrupted. Can you think of any other reason might cause this happening?
P.S. all these 3 computers are brand new same model with same softwares.

Thank you.  

Answer
Hi Jessica,

Are the other two computer users logged in as administrators or is there some difference in the user "levels?"

Things to check:
1 - File is not already open
2 - File and any artwork linked to file is present LOCALLY. Sometimes Illustrator has trouble looking across volumes to find linked artwork files. Move all those files to the C drive and try opening it.
3 - Same thing with fonts.
4- Make sure the permissions on the files are set so every level user can read them.

Also, on the problem machine, you might want to Delete the AIprefs file. Quit Illustrator, delete the AIprefs file, and restart Illustrator.

Try momentarily turning off any anti-viral utilities on the problem machine and see if that makes a difference.

Also, if you have a networked printer selected as the defualt printer on the problem machine, try setting a local printer as the default.. like PDF Printer. It's another problem networks can cause.

Other than that, it can also be a number of hardware problems including video card problems or memory problems. Let's hope it's not that!

Well here are some things to look at.
Hopefully one of my ideas points you in the right direction?
Amy Pace