Hi there,

It's my first time here so I hope you guys can help. I trying to open a .ai file which does not open. I have following these instructions ...

You can fix this by downloading the standalone version of UniConvertor for Windows and installing it. Then run the file 'C:\Program Files (x86)\sK1 Project\UniConvertor-1.1.5\inkscape-patches\inkscape-patch.vbs'. If this doesn't work, you can manually copy the two files 'uniconv_output.py' and 'uniconv-ext.py' into Inkscape's extension directory (which is listed in Inkscape, see Edit > Preferences > System: Inkscape extensions). This will overwrite the two files in that directory that do no longer work on Windows and will allow you to use the im- and export functionality of UniConvertor with Inkscape versions from Inkscape 0.92 on.

And now get this error upon trying to open the file (I am assuming it is an Illustrator 8 or older file).

UniConvertor failed:

Traceback (most recent call last):

File "<string>", line 1, in <module>

File "C:\Program Files (x86)\sK1 Project\UniConvertor-1.1.5\lib\site-packages\uniconvertor\__init__.py", line 95, in uniconv_run

doc = load.load_drawing(input_file)

File "C:\Program Files (x86)\sK1 Project\UniConvertor-1.1.5\lib\site-packages\uniconvertor\app\io\load.py", line 377, in load_drawing

return load_drawing_from_file(file, filename)

File "C:\Program Files (x86)\sK1 Project\UniConvertor-1.1.5\lib\site-packages\uniconvertor\app\io\load.py", line 359, in load_drawing_from_file

raise SketchLoadError(_("unrecognised file type"))

app.events.skexceptions.SketchLoadError: unrecognised file type


I would really like to fix this as I can see I will need to use .ai files in the future.

Any help would be very much appreciated!

Can you share the AI file, so we can test? Maybe the problem is specific to this file? Have you tried opening any other AI files?

Hi, I have tried a number of .ai files that won't open. I tried to attach a file as an example but it won't let me attach .ai files.

Rename it to .txt or .zip.

Or if it is too large, upload at another website and share a link (e.g. dropbox, onedrive, framadrop, ...)

Lets try this ...

https://www.adriennehodges.co.uk/aifile ... 9307774.ai

I have the exact same problem with lots of .ai files though so I don't think its the file itself, maybe more my set up??

Maybe the ai file wasn't saved with the pdf embedded?
(According to the save options provided with illustrator, you can save ai files without a pdf double embedded inside -which is the only part inkscape can open since the other part is a proprietary format)

related link

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=32950&p=100955&#p100955

FWIW, Affinity designer can open the file and save as SVG.

And indeed, if the A_stock .ai file is saved with the pdf data...


...Inkscape has no problem opening it.

Ai file with pdf info