Illustrator CS2 - opening duplicate files???

[Tom Walace]

So, I open an illustrator file....work on it a while....and then click the "X" Close icon to close the file.

Well, the file closes....but there is a duplicate file opened up behind it. So I have to close it as well....

Why is Illustrator opening up two copies of a particular file? How do I exercise this evil twin from opening with every stinking file I open?? Thanks.

[Kurt...@adobeforums.com]

Sounds like the file(s) contain(s) two (ore more) windows (Window > New Window). Per se that can be quite useful, but if you don't like it, just close one of your document windows, save the file, close and reopen.

[Tom Walace]

Hi Kurt - I did save one of the files, then closed them both and reopened the file...but it apparently reopens the file and a duplicate again....as I always have 2 copies to shut down??!!

Any suggestions? Thanks.

[Kurt...@adobeforums.com]

Well, the correct order would be to close only one of the two document windows (1), save and close the file (2), then reopen it (3).

[Tom Walace]

Kurt - thanks for the clarification! That seems to have taken care of this particular file. I will see how it goes....thanks again for the step-by-step. Appreciate it. :-)

[Tom Walace]

Drats!

Just opened up a different file and the same thing; duplicate files! I can't figure this out....any other ideas?

[Kurt...@adobeforums.com]

To eliminate the possibility of any other corruption, you will first have to report what you are seeing in the title bars of those document windows. If it is something like Filename.ai:1 and Filename.ai:2, then you are still dealing with a file that contains two document windows.

Sometimes creating the additional windows is just an accident caused by the programme user.

[Tom Walace]

Thank you for responding Kurt....I have been getting the Filename.ai:1 type naming....but I really haven't a clue as to how I might have done that?

How does this occur? Thanks.

[Kurt...@adobeforums.com]

As already mentioned above, it is the Window > New Window command which is also available in other programmes (like Corel Draw for example) and which might have beem executed unintentionally by hitting a combination of Windows (OS) keyboard shortcuts. In my Illustrator version it would be Alt+F, followed by F.

[Stephe...@adobeforums.com]

Tom:

While you are working on this you should check out how you can use multiple windows. Consider this- you can work in one window at high magnification while observing how the whole illustration is affected by the changes you make in the other window.

steve

[Harron_K....@adobeforums.com]

In my Illustrator version it would be Alt+F, followed by F.

In AI 12 (CS2), that would be Alt+W, followed by W.

Although unlikely, you might have inadvertently assigned a custom keyboard shortcut to that function.

Since there are no more than two windows, I would hazard a guess that this is something that happens when you, say, save and close a file. If it's an accidental keystroke combo you hit regularly during editing, you'd have many more than two windows.

[Harron_K....@adobeforums.com]

Aha!

Yes, I see it would be Alt+W+W in the U.S. English version of AI 10, as well.

[Kurt...@adobeforums.com]

Harron, in my version of Illustrator 12 (or any other generation) it would still be Alt+F, followed by F.

Window = Fenster

;-)

[Stephe...@adobeforums.com]

The way this happens to me is if I click Window and the cursor slips down a little to New Window before I release the mouse button. Sometimes I am in too big of a hurry.

steve

[Tom Walace]

Thank you guys.....it appears I must have done something to this effect, however, I don't recall doing it.

So, any file that I open now which comes up as 2 windows files - I need to close the first (top file) and save the second (bottome file) to get that file back to opening just one?

[Harron_K....@adobeforums.com]

I need to close the first (top file) and save the second (bottome file)
to get that file back to opening just one?

Yes, although it shouldn't matter which one you close before you save.

[Tom Walace]

Ok then...thanks everyone and thank you Harron. Have a great day.

[Tom Walace]

Hi guys - Ok, here's the latest in the saga of duplicate Illustrator files:

I discovered how this is happening, but not why it is happening.

I just opened up Illustrator and went to File/New. And when I did this, it of course opened up a new file. I closed that file without doing anything to it and it had a duplicate "New" file opened up behind it...which I also had to close.

I repeated this several times - simply opening a new file, nothing else - and each time it opened up 2 windows.

Does this help you figure out what might be going wrong? Thanks for your continued help.

[Stephe...@adobeforums.com]

Tom:

It sounds like it is time to try the AIPrefs reset solution. See FAQ#2 in Illustrator FAQ at the top of the forum list.

steve

[Tom Walace]

Ok...I'll give that a try and let you know how that goes...thank you Stephen. :-)