- Illustrator User Guide
- Get to know Illustrator
- Introduction to Illustrator
- Workspace
- Workspace basics
- Learn faster with the Illustrator Discover panel
- Create documents
- Toolbar
- Default keyboard shortcuts
- Customize keyboard shortcuts
- Introduction to artboards
- Manage artboards
- Customize the workspace
- Properties panel
- Set preferences
- Touch Workspace
- Microsoft Surface Dial support in Illustrator
- Undo edits and manage design history
- Rotate view
- Rulers, grids, and guides
- Accessibility in Illustrator
- Safe Mode
- View artwork
- Use the Touch Bar with Illustrator
- Files and templates
- Tools in Illustrator
- Tools at a glance
- Select tools
- Navigate tools
- Paint tools
- Text tools
- Draw tools
- Modify tools
- Generative AI (not available in mainland China)
- Quick actions
- Illustrator on the web (beta)
- Illustrator on the web (beta) overview
- Illustrator on the web (beta) FAQ
- Troubleshooting issues FAQ
- Keyboard shortcuts for Illustrator on the web (beta)
- Create and combine shapes on the web
- Add and edit text on the web
- Apply colors and gradients on the web
- Draw and edit paths on the web
- Work with cloud documents on the web
- Invite collaborators to edit on the web
- Illustrator on the iPad
- Introduction to Illustrator on the iPad
- Workspace
- Documents
- Select and arrange objects
- Drawing
- Type
- Work with images
- Color
- Cloud documents
- Basics
- Troubleshooting
- Add and edit content
- Drawing and dimensioning
- Drawing basics
- Edit paths
- Draw pixel-perfect art
- Draw with the Pen, Curvature, or Pencil tool
- Draw simple lines and shapes
- Draw rectangular and polar grids
- Draw and edit flares
- Image Trace
- Simplify a path
- Symbolism tools and symbol sets
- Adjust path segments
- Design a flower in 5 easy steps
- Create and edit a perspective grid
- Draw and modify objects on a perspective grid
- Use objects as symbols for repeat use
- Draw pixel-aligned paths for web workflows
- Measure and plot dimensions
- 3D objects and materials
- Color
- Painting
- Select and arrange objects
- Reshape objects
- Crop images
- Transform objects
- Combine objects
- Cut, divide, and trim objects
- Puppet Warp
- Scale, shear, and distort objects
- Blend objects
- Reshape using envelopes
- Reshape objects with effects
- Build new shapes with Shaper and Shape Builder tools
- Work with Live Corners
- Enhanced reshape workflows with touch support
- Edit clipping masks
- Live shapes
- Create shapes using the Shape Builder tool
- Global editing
- Type
- Add text and work with type objects
- Create bulleted and numbered lists
- Manage text area
- Fonts and typography
- Convert text within images into editable text
- Add basic formatting to text
- Add advanced formatting to text
- Import and export text
- Format paragraphs
- Special characters
- Create type on a path
- Character and paragraph styles
- Tabs
- Find missing fonts (Typekit workflow)
- Arabic and Hebrew type
- Fonts | FAQ and troubleshooting tips
- Create 3D text effect
- Creative typography designs
- Scale and rotate type
- Line and character spacing
- Hyphenation and line breaks
- Spelling and language dictionaries
- Format Asian characters
- Composers for Asian scripts
- Create text designs with blend objects
- Create a text poster using Image Trace
- Create special effects
- Web graphics
- Drawing and dimensioning
- Import, export, and save
- Import
- Creative Cloud Libraries in Illustrator
- Save and export
- Printing
- Prepare for printing
- Printing
- Automate tasks
- Troubleshooting
Are you experiencing issues with opening or placing a file in Illustrator? Learn about the possible reasons and solutions for these issues.
System-level issues can cause errors and other unexpected behavior. Before assuming that a document is damaged, follow these steps:
-
Ensure that your system meets the minimum system requirements to run the latest version of Illustrator.
Try out the latest features and enhancements.
Illustrator system messages help you determine the cause of the crash by providing a list of problem-causing scenarios. Here are some of the scenarios and their solutions:
You cannot open a file on Illustrator if your system does not have enough memory (RAM) to read the file. One of the reasons for less memory can be too many applications open on your computer.
Try these solutions
- Ensure that your computer meets the specified system requirements.
- Perform disk clean up to reduce the number of unnecessary files on your drive and ensure that your Windows temporary folder is empty.
- Quit some applications to free up your system's memory.
- Expand your system's RAM, if possible.
You cannot open a file on Illustrator and get an error message if there is an access-related issue with the file. Here are some access-related issues and their solution.
Issue |
Solution |
Not authorized to open this file or required access permissions are not available. |
Obtain access permissions from the owner of the file and try signing in again. Tip: Before you work on a shared file, create a local copy if possible. |
File is already open or locked (in use) by another user. |
Close the file from other applications or user profiles. |
File is password protected or invalid login or password for the file. |
Ensure that correct sign-in credentials are provided. |
File is placed on a network and the network location is not reachable. |
Check the network connectivity and try accessing the file again. |
You cannot open a file if it is already open in another version of Illustrator.
Try these solutions
- Close the file that is open in another version of Illustrator.
- If you are unable to close the file, force close all versions of Illustrator or restart your computer.
- If you're facing this issue when saving a file, try changing the filename and location. For more on fixing issues with saving files, see Troubleshoot issues with saving files.
You cannot open a file on Illustrator when the read process is interrupted or if the file cannot be accessed or found.
Following are some scenarios that can cause interruptions to the file read process, and their solution:
File location |
Reason |
Solution |
---|---|---|
Removable devices (USB stick, external drive, pen drive, and so on) |
Device is not removed or ejected safely from the computer |
Ensure that you safely remove the device after a read/write operation. |
Network location |
Network connectivity is lost |
Check your network connection. |
Shared location |
Shared file is no longer available |
Ensure that the shared location is accessible. |
You get an error message if an Illustrator file is found to be damaged or corrupt. In general, it happens when you use any corrupt JPEG image in your document. As a quick workaround, you can replace the corrupted JPEG image and relaunch Illustrator.
When you relaunch Illustrator, you get an auto-recovered version of the file:
- The auto-recovered file may have some contents missing or changed.
- The auto-recovery process does not change your original file because it runs on a copy of the file.
Try these recovery steps
When the .ai file gets damaged, you can try to recover the PDF version of it and save the PDF with the .ai extension. However, recovery is possible only if the Create PDF Compatible File option was enabled at the time of saving the file and the PDF content of the .ai file exists.
Perform the following steps to recover the affected .ai file:
- Open the affected .ai file in Acrobat Reader.
- Save the file as a PDF.
- Open this saved PDF in Illustrator and again save with the .ai extension.
If no PDF content exists for the selected .ai file, you will receive a message stating that file was saved without the PDF content.
In addition to the above scenarios, you cannot open and recover a file on Illustrator in the following cases:
- Unexpected or unknown errors.
- The file is damaged and beyond repair.
- The extension of the file you are trying to open is not supported by Illustrator.
What you can do
For all these cases, we recommend that you share your affected files with us and help us investigate the issue.
We're here to help!
If no solution works, share the affected file with us at file@adobe.com. We'll investigate the issue and let you know if recovery is possible. Ensure that the file you share does not include any sensitive personal information.
When you share your file(s) with us, you not only enable the Adobe team to find a solution to your problem, but also help us improve the overall user experience by identifying and resolving other similar issues.
We assure you that your file will strictly remain confidential and will be used only for investigation purposes.
We'll try our best to assist you, but as recovery depends on various factors, we cannot promise a permanent solution.
Talk to us
We would love to hear from you. Share your thoughts with the Adobe Illustrator Community.