"Can't open the illustration." problem

Hi,
I have a file that I cannot open anymore. I get a "Can't open the illustration. Could not complete the requested operation." message.
The peculiar thing is that I backed up this file to disk back when Illustrator would open it and I get the same error message when I try to open that one. I've gotten this error before on different files, but usualy due to overtaxing my machine and after a reboot the file opens right up. I have rebooted several times now and that just isn't working this time. I'm convinced the file is fine though.
CS4 with Windows Vista
Any feedback would be appreciated.

I thnk it is still the same problem but in this case it is with the scratch disk. I have a feeling that there is not enough continuous room on the scratch to handle this file even though it might appear that the fie is small compared to the size of the available space on the scratch.
Or what's behind door number two
Perhas it uses a font that is corrupt in that it is swelling the font data base which has become bloated.
Of course I could be wrong in both cases which means it is behind the mysterious door nuber three.
BTW did you try moving the Adobe Illustrator CS (#) Settings Folder?

Similar Messages

"Can't open the illustration" problem because of composer

Hello guys
I had an experience and I want share with you
I was working on Japanese AI file and after I have finished it I tried open it again, it gives me "Can't open the illustration" massage.
After lot of research I found that if put any text box with middle eastern composer the file won't open again.
I am working on middle eastern version and I think the files were made in Latin or Japanese version.
Now I have question if I have corrupted file because of this composer problem and i want to change the composer without opening the file on illustrator (by changing the extension to txt and open it on text editor). what I should change to make the composer to adobe not middle eastern composer?
Sorry for my bad English

I thnk it is still the same problem but in this case it is with the scratch disk. I have a feeling that there is not enough continuous room on the scratch to handle this file even though it might appear that the fie is small compared to the size of the available space on the scratch.
Or what's behind door number two
Perhas it uses a font that is corrupt in that it is swelling the font data base which has become bloated.
Of course I could be wrong in both cases which means it is behind the mysterious door nuber three.
BTW did you try moving the Adobe Illustrator CS (#) Settings Folder?

Problem report: "Can't open the illustration. The image has already been specified, it cannot be changed."

I got a problem with my files I created in Illustrator CS6. After I closed them and wanted them to open up again, this problem report popped up:
"Can't open the illustration. The image has already been specified, it cannot be changed."
If I click OK, there is a white site with nothing on it. No object, no pictures, nothing.
The Illustrator file has still the right size and when I start ArtFiles to collect all used pictures and fonts it's no problem.
In Adobe Bridge there is still a preview of the original file and I can see what HAS to be placed in the file.
Can anybody help me out?
We had to make all the work again for a presentation but this is not the solution for this problem if that will happen in the future again.
Thank you in advance!

Thank you for your answer!
Actually there is no CS5 installed on our computers (no more). I will try to get one from our admin. Hope this will work! In the meantime we had this problem several times.

Illustrator CS2 error message : Can't open the illustration : The illustration contains an incomplet

Hi,
I am getting this message once in a while in Illustrator CS2 :
Can't open the illustration : The illustration contains an incomplete or garbled object description.
Offending operator ''Bg''
Context :
357.2139 668.8398L
357.2139 669.8477L
161.228 669.8477L
Bb
1 (Unnamed gradient 1) 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 Bg
Is there something which is done wrong in illustrator to get this message ?
What can prevent this to happen, because unable to open the document, the document is blank when opened ?
Thanks in advance !

We have tried both saving the files on our company server and on our individual desktops - neither of which will open the files.
Fonts are ok - they are all created and saved in CS6.
Printers, I believe are all correctly set up.
We tried a complete reinstall on one PC - still running into the same random files ending up 'lost' with the same error message.
Originally, the cs6 design standards (6 licenses total) were loaded to the server/shared drive and then downloaded onto each PC from there - we believe this may have something to do with the corruption, but this problem has just begun within the last month and the programs were all downloaded over 6 months ago.

Error message "Can't open the illustration." - HELP

I work for a small company in the product development area and we use AI every day, all day. We work on PCs (windows 7) in AI CS6 design standard.
About a week and a half ago, I got the error message "Can't open the illustration." I then proceeded to recreate my file that was lost, once saved and closed, the same error message popped up after trying to reopen. The file was recreated by another person, and the same error message occurred. This has now happened to 5 of my files and a handful of files created by coworkers.
The error seems to be completely random, as we have been able to create other files without a glitch. The other odd thing, is that the one person who uses a mac in our creative department was able to open our 'lost' files as single pages on her AI CS4.
Please help!
Thank you.

We have tried both saving the files on our company server and on our individual desktops - neither of which will open the files.
Fonts are ok - they are all created and saved in CS6.
Printers, I believe are all correctly set up.
We tried a complete reinstall on one PC - still running into the same random files ending up 'lost' with the same error message.
Originally, the cs6 design standards (6 licenses total) were loaded to the server/shared drive and then downloaded onto each PC from there - we believe this may have something to do with the corruption, but this problem has just begun within the last month and the programs were all downloaded over 6 months ago.

Illustrator cs6 Can't open the illustration. Could not complete the requested operation.

Hi guys
I'm struggling with my Illustrator CS6. I hope you will help me.
When I try to open my project it says "Can't open the illustration. Could not complete the requested operation." After clicking ok my project is loaded WITHOUT one layer. I sacrificed a lot of time doing it and i don't want to start it over again. None of the ways to open it as older version of program work. I know that it can be recovered, because when I open the same project in After Effects all layers are loaded properly. If somebody know how to solve this problem please let me know asap.

Thanks, Monica, Ryan, and Mike. It helps to know that this is the best I'm likely to get, so I don't waste more time looking for a better solution.
I was able to place the file, then simply redraw or retype the broken parts on top of the placed art. Often, I could click into the placed art and copy contents from it. For type, though, I had to retype whatever got broken.
Since I posted my 1st comment here on Dec. 5, it happened to me again. Again, I had to reconstruct parts of it, the same way.
Sometimes, I save a file without PDF compatibility enabled, just to make it save more quickly. I'm glad I didn't do that with this file.

Can't open the illustrator. There is not enough room for the window.

hello all,
I've seen this asked before. But no real solution has been found.
I'm working with both Ps and Ai and A LOT of Ai files embedded in Ps (smart objects). Don't ask
The problem is that whenever I want to open a smart object illustrator shrinks to tiny size and that message pops up (Can't open the illustrator. There is not enough room for the window. etc etc). That happens mostly when the illustrator is already open.
There has to be a solution other than deleting the preference folder (have too many other preferences there that I do not want to set up again, like color prefs etc) And btw, I've seen people saying the problem actually comes back fairly soon.
It's worth mentioning that it started slow - at first it was opening illy just half the maximized size.
Shift+Close (X on the top) that used to help with apps that do not want to open in a right size, is not helping. Only solution is to open (double click smart object) it once, shift+closing and opening it again.
That however is NOT helping the productivity. Luckily at the workshop I do have a very fast PC that opens illy in about second/ second and a half, but for one that I have at home I would hang myself before I could do some proper work.
Adobe tech support has nothing.
REALLY? This aint a freeware to have this type of flaw for YEARS from what I read (at least since CS4)
Really frustrated here.
OS: Win 7 64bit
Adobe ver.: Ps and Illy - CS6
A.S.

Thank you for pointing me to that thread. I've seen it and:
1. problem described is different
2. not a single permanent fix (I mean cmon, 'resize the window by draggin it bigger' or 'alt+O to open') Not looking for ECDL type of help.
Also, as I mentioned in my first post, thrashing settings folder is not an option.
It's an expensive product and it has to have a proper fix. Am I not in the right place?
A.S.

Can't open the illustration CS5

This solution worked on my Windows PC.
The problem: Illustrator CS4 or CS5 wouldn't open EPS files in a particular folder. Would get the error message -- Can't Open the Illustration. Or, the application would shut down or just wouldn't open when trying to open one of the offending document. After thinking I had to recover each of over a hundred files, I realized that the problem might be a font.
The solution (for my equipment, anyway): Open a new document. Type a few characters and assign the text the font that you used in the offending document that you think might be the problem. Try opening the offending document. After doing this once, it allowed me to open every file with that font perfectly. Somehow, it's like Illustrator lost connection to that font, in this case Cooper Medium BT.
Anyway ... just thought I'd share this.
Would someone else having the problem and this solution, please confirm that it worked for you?

diacritically,
You have to follow the instructions very closely.
However, reports in this forum seem to indicate that this is a way that only works in a limited number of cases because it is rather difficult to spot (all) the errors in the file.
There are some instructions here:
http://daxxter.wordpress.com/2009/04/16/how-to-recover-a-corrupted-illustrator-ai-file/
The simplest solution you may try first is to try to place the file into a new AI document and see whether enough (or anything) can be saved that way; remember to tick Paste remembers Layers in the Layers palette before that and untick afterwards.
You may also try the trial to see whether is is possible, and feasible, to pay for the recovery here:
http://www.recoverytoolbox.com/buy_illustrator.html
That trial may also show whether there is hope in trying to recover.

Can't open the illustration.

I have a fresh installation of MC CS5.
I'm trying to import PSD-file to an AI document, but all I get is a message that says:
Can't open the illustration.
No errors or anything else.
If I try to use Place for my PSD-file, nothing happens.
I have 30 images in que and my client is waiting.
This kind of problems are the last thing I need right now.
My system:
W7 Pro 64bit
12G RAM
GeForce GTX 470
Corsair Force 3 SSD

Apparently, thanks to suggestions solicited in other locations, the resolution turned out to be renaming the documents and settings/[username]/Application Date/Adobe/Adobe Illustrator CS Settings folder, so that Illustrator would recreate the folder upon opening (similar to the common InDesign fix which I had been looking for an equivalent). Specifically, after testing, it was the AIPrefs file in that folder that caused the problems.
Now AI can save, open files, whatever.
And there you have it.

Can't Open the Illustration. There is not enough room for the window;

This is more of a nusance than an actual problem. But, when I double click on an AI document to open it the Illustrator window will shrink down to what is in the attached image and throw an error. The error reads "Can't open the Illustration. There is not enough room for the window; increase document area and try again."
I can drag and drop the file into Illustrator and file>open of course, but the double-click method isn't working.
I'm not sure if this is a Windows 7 issue or an Illustrator issue.

dual monitors. And i'm on windows so the application frame cannot be toggled.
I was able to fix it. Detached the application and then resized the scrunched window. that seems to have done the trick. Weird since I had never squeezed it all the way down like that.
thanks! Didn't know about the preferences reset.

"can't open the illustration. the image has already been specified, it cannot be changed" in CS6

I received this error mesaage when trying to open a Illustrator CS6 file. "can't open the illustration. the image has already been specified, it cannot be changed"
This file contains my sketches. Hoe can I recover file?

Are you sketches embedded images, or vector? Do you have any additional plug ins installed, or any new recent fonts?
Have you tried your illustrator prefs. Run disk utility to fix any permissions. Set up a new user account, and try to open the file, if this works then we know there is a pref in your user account causing this, otherwise it is somethng in the global installation..
This problem happened back in 2012 to this person though no answer.
Problem Opening Illustrator File. "Cant Open the Illustration"

ERROR! can't open the illustration. the illustration contains an illegal operand. Offending operator '((((((((((((((((((((((( 1Gm

Hello, good people. Please help!
I am working on a project that consists of one .ai file that contains 27, letter sized art boards.
I am using Adobe cs5-Illustrator on a macbook pro.
I have opened and closed and save this file many, many times—I have been working on this for the last 2+weeks.
Today, when I tried to open the file I received an error message that read: "can't open the illustration. the illustration contains an illegal operand. Offending operator '((((((((((((((((((((((( 1Gm
A screen shot of the entire message is below. Can anyone please help me to ward of this "offending operator?"
Thank you in advance.

AAhlene,
It is strange that the offending operation is not shown in context within the message.
Are you saving to your own harddisk( see below)?
One thing often tried first is to create a new document and File>Place the (PDF contents, if any, of the) corrupted one to see how much may be rescued that way.
Here are some websites where you can see whether it can rescue the actual file, and if it can, you may pay for a subscription to have it done,
http://www.recoverytoolbox.com/buy_illustrator.html
http://markzware.com/adobe-software/fix-illustrator-file-unknown-error-occurred-pdf2dtp-fi le-recovery/
http://www.illustrator.fixtoolbox.com/
As far as I remember, the first one is for Win and the second one is for Mac, while the third one should be for both.
Here are a few pages about struggling with it yourself:
http://daxxter.wordpress.com/2009/04/16/how-to-recover-a-corrupted-illustrator-ai-file/
http://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/kb/troubleshoot-damaged-illustrator-files.html
http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/500/cpsid_50032.html
http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/500/cpsid_50031.html
http://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/kb/enable-content-recovery-mode-illustrator.html
External media: It is always recommended here to open/save from/to own hard disk, and to copy from/to networks and removable media. You may be lucky (for a while), but the chances of file corruption and other unpleasantnesses are immensely greater when you use anything but the harddisk, and it is better to be safe than sorry.
In addition to the (far greater) risk of file corruption, some issues are mentioned here:
http://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/kb/illustrator-support-networks-removable-media.html
To have a network actually work may require some work.
If you transfer by external means it is always safest to zip/compress the file to avoid corruption.

Error message: Can't open the illustration. The illustration-

Can't open the illustration. The illustration exceeds an implemention limit.
Offending operator: '%%HiResBoundingBox: -1229.2598
-6416.8828
I might have mis counted the number of brackets.
Any idea what is up with my file? It worked yesterday, and for 3 days proir. 3 days of concept designs for a client. Regulary saved.
Very frustrated and anxious.
Mac 10.6.4 CS4
Caspian

Caspian,
A few more suggestions:
1) You may see how much, if any, is rescued by creating a new document and placing the damaged file.
2) You may try to mend the file, using this approach:
http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/500/cpsid_50031.html
http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/500/cpsid_50032.html
One thing to try might be to search for the offending part
%%HiResBoundingBox: -1229.2598 -6416.8828
and to remove that and
a) one/some of the brackets so the numbers of either kind match,
b) something that follows and seems to be tied to the offending part,
c) everything that follows.

Why am I getting the error message "Can't open the illustration. The illustration contains and incomplete or garbled object description."

I work in a graphic design firm and 4 separate people have received these messages on separate days using separate files on separate MAC computers. We are all using CS6.
"Can't open the illustration. Could not complete the requested operation."
"Can't open the illustration. The illustration contains an illegal operand. 1206.3.6006 % 1205.9736 1178.52 m % 1206.2236 1178.8374 I % 1206.3232 1178.% 1206.3.6006"
"Can't open the illustration. The illustration contains an illegal or misplaced operator. ∘ê 3 0 R 508054 0 R 508055 0 R]/Order 508056 0 R/RBGroups[]>>/OCGs[5 0 R 6 0 R 7 0 R 8 0 R 9 0 R 46702 0 R 46703 0 R 46704 0 R 467"
"Can't open the illustration. The illustration contains and incomplete or garbled object description."
After clicking ok the file will open; however, most of the illustration is missing. We are interested in repairing our files, but we are more interesting in figuring out why this is happening and fixing it. We are nervous to even open anything for fear this will happen again.
Please help!

brittanyesparks,
One thing often tried first is to create a new document and File>Place the corrupted one to see how much may be rescued that way (remember to tick Paste remembers Layers in the Layer palette flyout/dropdown first, and to untick it afterwards).
Here is a website where you can see whether it can rescue the file, and if it can, you may pay for a subscription to have it done,
http://www.recoverytoolbox.com/buy_illustrator.html
and another similar website,
http://markzware.com/adobe-software/fix-illustrator-file-unknown-error-occurred-pdf2dtp-fi le-recovery/
As far as I remember, the former is for Win and the latter for Mac.
Here are a few pages about struggling with it yourself:
http://daxxter.wordpress.com/2009/04/16/how-to-recover-a-corrupted-illustrator-ai-file/
http://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/kb/troubleshoot-damaged-illustrator-files.html
http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/500/cpsid_50032.html
http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/500/cpsid_50031.html
http://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/kb/enable-content-recovery-mode-illustrator.html

Error message: Can't open the illustration. The illustration contains an illegal or misplaced operator.

Hi,
I was working on an Illustrator file and saving as I went. It all seemed to be working properly. When I was finished I saved it one last time and then also saved a PDF of the file. I closed the program momentarily while I typed an email that I wanted to attach the PDF to and then tried to open the Illustrator and the PDF one last time to check everything was done correctly. The Illustrator file came up with this message: Can't open the illustration. The illustration contains an illegal or misplaced operator. The PDF also didn't work. Any ideas what's going on here? I would greatly appreciate any help! Thanks!

Simply get used to the thought that the file may be unrecoverable. you can try placing it into a new document or rasterize it in PS, but that pretty much may be the extent of what you can do. And in the future:
Work File Safety | Mylenium's Error Code Database
Mylenium

"Can't open the illustration." problem

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