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. Yael figured out what I believe is the only known way to recover a corrupt Adobe Illustrator file. Joyously grateful emails from around the world pop up in her inbox every so often with deeply felt thanks for having discovered this invaluable tip.
See it on Behance Tip Exchange or continue reading for the step-by-step tip. Let us know if this comes in handy or if you have another way that works for you.
(paraphrased from Behance.net, where the tip was originally posted by Yael...)
I've discovered a fix that worked for me in un-corrupting corrupt adobe Illustrator files - quite by accident. Hope this helps someone!!
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!
This has worked when nothing else has... believe me it is painful to have to recreate a corrupt file....
