Recovering a Corrupt AI File
Have you ever worked on a design in Adobe Illustrator only to try opening it later and discover it's corrupt? Hours of work go down the drain, yet there is a ray of hope to crack open that file once again.
This will work in Adobe Illustrator 10 and up (but try it in older versions - it may also work.)
Requires Acrobat (not just the Reader).
Works on (and was tested in) Illustrator version 10 and all CS versions.
>Open the corrupt file in Acrobat.
>Take the arrow tool.
>Click on any element or text in the document.
>Just move the object by hitting one of the directional arrows on your keyboard.
>File, Save.
>Open the file in Illustrator.
>It will say 'this file has been modified outside of Illustrator' or
something to that effect. it will ask if you want to keep changes.
>Say 'Yes' (or OK)
Your file will open virtually intact!
(Postscript: this tip was originally posted on Behance.net in the Tip Exchange section. Go ahead and give it a thumbs up if you found it useful! And, don't forget to spread the word - it can save hours of work and frustration for any designer.)
Wow, that is so helpful! Definitely good to know.
Posted by: Amy | March 26, 2008 at 10:49 AM
It's probably the version of Acrobat that matters, not that of Illustrator.
Posted by: Alexey Feldgendler | March 27, 2008 at 01:37 AM
Very helpful, thank you!
Posted by: suzi | March 29, 2008 at 03:17 AM
Does this work only when the ai file had been saved with PDF content activated?
Posted by: Nathan | March 31, 2008 at 06:56 AM
Nathan - I've never paid attention to PDF content activation when saving Illustrator format files. It's definitely worth a try, though if you ever get into this situation and nothing works.
Posted by: Yael Miller | March 31, 2008 at 07:18 PM