# Error in the AI file



## kylemorris (Jan 28, 2016)

Greetings to all,
A couple of days ago, he tried to open the image in Adobe Illustrator, but there was an error: "Can not open the illustration. The illustration contains an incomplete or garbed object description."

I cannot understand where it came from an error, and the rest Illustrator files open correctly, tell me what to do?


----------



## Daf57 (Jan 28, 2016)

I've had that issue before, a few were recoverable using the recovery mode ... a few were trashed. Check the following links:

https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/kb/opening-illustrator-file-get-error.html
https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/kb/enable-content-recovery-mode-illustrator.html

Failing all that you might want to post this on the Adobe forums. 

Good luck!


----------



## jaxsonwilcox (Feb 8, 2016)

A final resort is to purchase a third-party program or service that salvages damaged files, for example https://www.openfiletool.com/aiopen.html AI Open File Tool or apply next steps

	Save the file to your local (C) drive, which will decrease the potential for issues. Open the file in other versions of Illustrator if possible. Placing the file (using the File > Place command) into a blank document may also work, although it may require some minor edits to restore the file to its previous specifications (ungrouping, resizing, re-linking source files or changing color mode).
	Open the file (if possible) and print as a Postscript file by choosing "File > Print," then choose "Adobe Postscript File" as your printer and click "Save." Open the exported PS file in Illustrator.
	Select Object > Path > Cleanup, then go to the Layers Panel menu and select Paste Remembers Layers. Select the artwork and copy, then paste into a new file.
	Launch Adobe Acrobat (any version except Reader) and attempt to open the Illustrator file from within Acrobat. If it opens, make a minor edit using the Select tool (if possible). Save as a PDF and an EPS,and export as an EPS by clicking "File > Export > Postscript > Encapsulated Postscript." Open these files in Illustrator, or place them into a blank file if opening fails.
	Eliminate potentially corrupted elements (swatches, brushes, symbols, links, fonts) one at a time and save the file (under another name) to isolate the issue; reinstall the fonts, create outlines, select all elements and convert to process black. Delete all imported elements and custom elements, such as symbols, and remove custom brush strokes.
	Open Illustrator (the same program version that was used to create the corrupt file); save a blank file in the same format (AI or EPS). Close the file and change the extension of both to TXT (not necessary on Mac) and open in a text editor, such as Notepad. Note the point in the corrupt file where the valid data begins: it will be numbers and letters rather than symbols. In the good file, find %%BeginData and copy all data before it, then replace the bad data in the bad file. Save, close, and change the file extension back to AI or EPS, and try opening.
	Open the file in Photoshop or place into a new blank page in InDesign. This may enable you to salvage text or critical file elements, which you can export back into Illustrator.


----------

