Unravelling European .ai files in the USA

[Mike_McKenna@adobeforums.com]

Hey,

I keep having problems with .ai files that I send to the states.
The files are fine when I send them to printers or other designers in the UK but when I send them via e-mail, FTP or CD(which I stopped in case demagnitising was screwing up files) to the states no one seems to be able to decipher them untill we send them again as .eps or ai version 7 or lower. This seems to be the case whether they are sent to Macs or PCs.
(I use a PC, Illustrator 10.)

Does anyone know of any compatability issues between the European and US versions of Illustrator? Or compatability issues between Illustrator files on US machines vs European machines?

Cheers,
Mike

[Philip_Peterson@adobeforums.com]

Are you zipping (or stuffing) them before sending them over?

I've noticed illustrator files behind transfered through a varity of e-mail systems have the danger of being corrupted, or having some junk put in the eps file.

Encapsulating the file will usually help, if this is the problem here.

Ummmm, on the other hand, I guess if you have had the same problem sending the files on CD, I guess e-mail incompatibilty might not be the problem...

If you want to e-mail one to me, I'll see if I can spot anything odd about the file...

[Mike_McKenna@adobeforums.com]

Hey Philip,

Thanks for your response!

I've had problems in the past sending zipped and unzipped files but zipped ones do seem to be a bit more reliable to be fair.

The Encapsulating thing makes sense. Thst's the way I got the last one to work. Just inconvenient as they're usually bigger files.
I'll mail you the one that was frustrating the hell out of me the other day as .ai to see if you do notice anything I could fix in the file to make it travel better. - Thanks

A printer here told me he has had problems with CDs from the states being demagnatised on their way through customs. I'm trying to get FTP set up with the main designers I work with in the States as I think it's also more reliable, but again I've had problems with that in the past. (never sure if someone just hasn't finished the download though.

Thanks again, I'll send the ai file over now and look forward to hearing from you.

Cheers for now,
Mike

[Philip_Peterson@adobeforums.com]

I'm not sure if your printer is correct. As far as I know, CD's are not magnetic media, and thus could not be "demagnatised."

The files you sent opened up just fine for me. Are they the same files that someone else couldn't open?

Philip

[Mike_McKenna@adobeforums.com]

Thanks for that Philip.

Yea the files are the ones that someone else couldn't open. It's good to know I'm not going mad. I'll keep your .eps and zip points in mind in future though. Should save me a little time sending and re-sending things.

Cheers,
Mike