[cleanup]

Another vector artist and I are collaborating on a project. I worked on it some, emailed it to her, she coloured it. Now, when she sends it back, it downloads as a .ps file (it adds the postscript extension to the file for some reason) that will not open. I rename it back to .ai, it will open in Preview, and Photoshop, but it will not open in AI CS2. It gives me the following error:

Can't open the illustration. Could not complete the requested operation.

I can zoom in on it as a vector in Preview, rasterize it in Photoshop, but it just won't open in Illustrator, where it should work.

I can copy and paste it from Preview to Illustrator, but Preview doesn't read the layer data, so it all appears on one layer, which is useless.

If it makes any difference, I'm using CS2 while she's using CS.

Any ideas?

[art_director]

This may seem obvious but have you tried opening it in CS rather than CS2?

[cleanup]

Don't have CS installed... not sure if I have a copy of it...

That's ridiculous, though. If she could open my CS2 file, I should be able to open an older file. I used to use CS on my Windows PC and those files open fine on my Mac in CS2.

How can something be backwards compatible but not compatible in future versions?

Furthermore, that file was first created in CS2.

[art_director]

That might not even work. Just making suggestions.

[cleanup]

Any other ideas?

[kaboom]

Tell her to save it then .zip it.
That usually works when we have problem files from customers.
Somehow, sometimes, things get lost in the transfer, either from email or from FTP or whatever. .zip'ing the file keeps the file more intact for when you get it.

Hope that helps.

[art_director]

ZIP = Willing to wager that will help.

[cleanup]

It sort of helped. When unarchived, the file appeared as a proper .ai file with the Adobe Illustrator CS ONE logo on it (the pink flower, rather than the orange one), but it still gives me the same error.

Any, any, any ideas? Could it have to do with the fact that the file was created in CS2, then edited in CS and saved again?

[cleanup]

Alright, never mind. We found out the problem. Can't use compression when crossing versions, apparently. When I emailed it to her, apparently it all appeared on one layer, and she had to work with it like that. She never told me - that's what happens when someone's too nice.

[kaboom]

Oooh, that's good to know!
I'm glad someone else went through the pain instead of me. Might be good info to have in the future.
Thanks!

[art_director]

That is good to know, thanks for sharing.

[KeriVit]

Originally Posted by cleanup

Alright, never mind. We found out the problem. Can't use compression when crossing versions, apparently. When I emailed it to her, apparently it all appeared on one layer, and she had to work with it like that. She never told me - that's what happens when someone's too nice.

When you say you can't use compression, do you mean the Use Compression checkbox in the Save Dialog, or compression like stuffit/zip?

[cleanup]

The Use Compression checkbox.

Actually, there are still compatibility issues that we never got sorted out. For some reason, whenever I sent an .ai file to her, all the data appeared on one layer. When she sent it back, it appeared on several layers, but items were grouped, there were clipping masks everywhere. I must have spend half an hour ungrouping and organizing everything, only to have it to appear on one layer when I sent it back.

Anyways, we're done now. Wanna see it?

Link: http://www.deviantart.com/view/22293902/

If you're registered at deviantART, feel free to comment.

[MaxPower]

I wonder if its also the 'Preserve PDF editing capbility' setting. Seeing as you noticed tons of clipping paths, it reminds me of when I open a PDF inside of Illustrator.

[tra242]

I'm on a PC using Illustrator CS2, but this might work for you good folks on Macs. Note that I have never compressed this file in any way, nor have I emailed it or opened it on any other machine, whether PC or Mac. It just wouldn't open after I saved and closed it the first time.

I created some vectors in an AI file, added some placed bitmaps, and saved it. Tried to open the file the next day only to discover the error " Can't open the illustration. Could not complete the requested operation." Very frustrating.

Anyway, finally I opened the file in Acrobat and exported it as an EPS. Then I was able to open the EPS in Illustrator CS2. The only issue is that everything was on a single layer, and the bitmaps were completely gone (because they had been placed outside the page area), but at least I had access to the vectors.

Hope it helps.

[hmccorkle]

If you first created the .ai in CS2, I am actually surprised it opened in CS. But since it did, it must have converted the file to the legacy CS format, which apparently isn't readable in the newer CS2.

All this is very odd, and I really have no answers for you, but that is my whole logic on this thing.

[Eriamjh]

...

[Texy]

Help!

I installed Tiger over the weekend and now, every single one of my .ai files won't open! I've even gone through the 'open all files with the .ai extension in Illustrator' set up. I'm running CS.

The error is:
Can't open the illustration. The illustration contains and incomplete or garbled object description.

Offending operator: ';'
Context:

6 () XW
U
9 () XW
X+
/AI11TextFrameGroup,
;

I sent the files to a friend who CAN open them.

I'm on the verge of complete panic here.....

Feel free to contact me directly - as this is part of my business and I have clients! info@x-site-d.com

Thank you all

Ann

[KeriVit]

Have you tried File->Open from within CS?

[DuaneB]

Delete the Illustrator preferences file and restart Illustrator. Worked for me.