Trimming scanned artwork in illustrator cs4

Hi All,
I often bring a scan into Illustrator cs4, and then want to trim it so I can work with only a part of it. I can't seem to figure out how to do it. I understand that you can mask it, but doesn't that bog down the file? I have tried using scissors, but it says that I need to select a path. The scanned object is selected, which appears to be a path of sorts, so I must be missing something. Can anyone help?
Thanks so much.

spot 333,
I am afraid James is referring to the dirty destructive deed (if he is not, silly me; if he is, also silly me; this can only be a lose/lose situation I am afraid):
With the Clipping Mask selected:
1) In the Transparency palette/panel dropdown select anything but Normal (Multiply is fine);
2) Object>Flatten Transparency (just leave it at 100% vector and other defaults).
This will rid you of the parts outside the Bounding Box of the path that shapes the Clipping Mask: a rectangle, even in case of other shapes such as ellipses, which does not hurt in your case.

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Hi Russell
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regards
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Dear Jacob and Peter,
Thank you both very much for your help.
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K8,
What Steve said, with the addition that you may get rid of the outlying parts, by:
1) With the mask selected, in the Transparency palette dropdown select anything but Normal,
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unless you have withheld information and really want to distort the picture to fit the shape, in which case you should select both shape and picture and Object>Envelope Distort>Make with Top Object.
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Thanks Monica,
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Thanks.
We are running CS4 on windows7 - yes PC!!!

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Hope maybe you can help with any thoughts at all.
Cheers.
Date: Thu, 24 Jun 2010 03:41:40 -0600
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Illustrator CS4 wont save files, please help?
What file format do you save it in?
What kinds of changes did you make in that file?
Where do you save the file (removable or network media)?
>

Can't open illustration. cs4(eng)--- cc(eng)

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what is the problem..... I used to work with english ver. so korean ver. is uneasy. ( translation is so weird !!!)
clearly!
cs4(eng.)------->cc(eng) ------>X (can't open illustration)
cs4(eng.)------->cc(korean.)--------> O
I want to work wit english version!
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iag,
You may start looking at recovery methods as the ones described in these links (although the cases dealt with differ form yours, you may do something similar):
http://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/kb/troubleshoot-damaged-illustrator-files.html
http://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/kb/opening-illustrator-file-get-error.html
http://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/kb/enable-content-recovery-mode-illustrator.html
http://daxxter.wordpress.com/2009/04/16/how-to-recover-a-corrupted-illustrator-ai-file/
It is difficult work, but it may be worth it.
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Edit: almost an hour after midnight here so I have to attend to other duties. The very best of luck.

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Hello
I am working on PC, Windows 7, Illustrator CS4 , and since few days this message appears each time I try to open a file :
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I have re loaded Illustrator but the problem is still here.
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koukleve,
Is it only one file (which may be corrupted), or all files?
If it applies to all files, you have already been through 1) on the list.
The following is a general list of things you may try when the issue is not in a specific file (you may have tried/done some of them already); 1) and 2) are the easy ones for temporary strangenesses, and 3) and 4) are specifically aimed at possibly corrupt preferences); 5) is a list in itself, and 6) is the last resort.
If possible/applicable, you should save current artwork first, of course.
1) Close down Illy and open again;
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Even more seriously, you may:
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http://www.adobe.com/support/contact/cscleanertool.html

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Funny someone reported something similar that when they recolored symbol instance and accepted the edit the symbol and al like symbols moved down and slightly to the right as well of course being recolored.
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Thanks for all the info.
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Trimming scanned artwork in illustrator cs4

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