Problem opening older files

[baltjustin]

I am having a problem opening older Freehand files in Freehand MX in Windows.

The older files were created on a Mac in Freehand 8 and 9. But when I attempt
to open them in Freehand MX, I get this message: "Could not complete your
request because an unknown command was encountered" and the file does not open.

Anybody have any suggestions on how to get these files to open?

Thanks.

[mikeymicro]

Have you tried physically changing the extension on your files by going into
the "my computer" settings? This made it possible for me to open older files
from Freehand 3 to Freehand 7. I just manually changed the file extension from
..fh3 to .fh7 and it opened and I was able to modify and re-save from there.

[FH 4Ever]

I think if you just change the file extension to .fh, FreeHand files in Windows should open fine.

[Athena Towery]

I am having the same difficulty, except I'm using a mac. (osX)

[baltjustin]

Changing the file extension to .fh or .fh9 helps in some cases, but not in all. Even after changing it the error message comes up on some of these files.

[SiggySputnik]

I think that FHMX lacks some of the translators to open FH8 and ealier files
without FH9 being on your machine. Some files I have to open in FH9 and then
open in FHMX. Can you open the file through the file-open menu? You also might
try draggin and dropping the file icon on the application icon. I've also had
some luck with opening a new document and then just dragging the file icon
directly into the open freehand window. Hope this helps some.

[baltjustin]

Tried all the suggestions from this thread, and still no problems. In fact, the
problem seems to be even when trying to open Freehand MX files that were
created on a Mac. Tried updating to 11.0.2, and now instead of the error
message, the hourglass shows up and the system just hangs, with the only way
out of it is to go to the Task Manager and "end now". Anybody have any
additional suggestions?

[Anthony F. Dugenia MMTS]

Hello,

Try compressing the older FreeHand files in your Macintosh before transferring
it in Windows. This would avoid file corruption specially when files are being
sent trough e-mail. Also, try importing the files instead of doing a File >
Open. Let see if this would work.


I hope this helps.

Anthony F. Dugenia
Technical Support Specialist
Macromedia Technical Support
To search for TechNotes and other issues use;
[url]http://www.macromedia.com/support/search/[/url]

[baltjustin]

We tried the File>Open procedure and that didn't work.

As for the file corruption, the files open up on other machines running the
same operating system and Freehand version, so I'm thinking the problem might
be with this one machine. Uninstalling and reinstalling the entire Studio MX
didn't make a difference.

[Anthony F. Dugenia MMTS]

HI,

You having problem with the Windows machine right? Have you tried my
suggestions yet? You can export the file as an Adobe Illustrator file as well
and import it in FreeHand MX on Windows.

hope this helps.

Anthony F. Dugenia
Technical Support Specialist
Macromedia Technical Support
To search for TechNotes and other issues use;
[url]http://www.macromedia.com/support/search/[/url]

[baltjustin]

Correct, I'm using a Windows 2000 machine to open Freehand files that were
created on a Mac.

Compressing the files wouldn't help since I'm accessing the files directly off
a server, and re-saving wouldn't solve the problem -- the files open up on
other Windows 2000 machines running Freehand MX. So I'm pretty confident now
that the problem is not with the files.