"AI" files open fine except when hyperlinked from Excel

[brandoninoregon]

Good afternoon!

We need a handful of computers in our company to be able to view ".ai" files via hyperlinks in network-located Excel spreadsheets. As these are not designer stations, these computers do not have Adobe Illustrator, so they must open these files with Acrobat Reader DC.

The issue: When clicking the hyperlink, Excel will throw the error - "No program is registered to open this file."

Steps we have taken:

1. We have contacted Microsoft Support and have done extensive troubleshooting. On two computers, this problem was completely fixed by installing the latest version of Acrobat Reader DC. Three computers still throw the error - these computers have the same versions of (1) Windows, (2) Office, and (3) Acrobat Reader DC.
2. We have tried directly opening these ".ai" files and they open just fine in Acrobat Reader DC.
3. We have tried making a hyperlink within an Outlook email and that link, when clicked, opens the ".ai" with no error, in Acrobat Reader DC.
4. We have ensured all these computers are on the same version of Windows
5. We have ensured all these computers are running the most recent version of Office 365.
6. We have updated all of these computers to the latest version of Acrobat Reader DC.
7. We have quadruple checked "File Associations" in windows, to ensure ".ai" files are set to open in Acrobat Reader DC.
8. I have reached out to Adobe twice via live chat: The first contact informed me that I must log in to the computer throwing the error in order to troubleshoot the cause. When I did so, that tech spent nearly 2 hours confirming that I was an Adobe CC customer, only to tell me in the end that he was not trained in Acrobat Reader DC and couldn't help me. Of course, I do not know why he didn't tell me at the outset that he couldn't offer support, since the description of my problem clearly stated it was an Acrobat Reader DC issue - not to mention, we connected remotely so I could show him the issue, which I did a few times at his request).

So at this point we are feeling really stuck. We are loyal Adobe Creative Cloud customers - but when we reached out to Live Chat support they referred me to this forum. I've noticed several other tickets about similar issues but with no resolution.

Any insight or guidance will be so appreciated by us!

Thanks!

PS: Here are links to other similar forum posts:

"No program is registered to open this file."

PDF does not remain in the Registered file types list

Hyperlinks to PDF files with Excel XP will not open on Acrobat

Hyperlink does not open pdf file

Excel 2013 hyperlinks to pdf files

None of these posts led to a solution.

[jane-e]

Please see this thread with the answer from Dov Isaacs to see if it answers your question:

Pdf vs Ai

[brandoninoregon]

Thanks so much Jane-e! How cool that Dov chimed in personally to answer. I totally understand all these points, and actually have worked with Illustrator and PDF files for about 15 years. Our problem is different computers having different results with the same set-up, so far seemingly inexplicably so!

We open .ai files all the time with Adobe Reader for quick reference of the contents of Illustrator files, or, as in our current situation, so production/assembly staff can view renderings of artwork easily with the click of a link. We have two staff members whose computer do this beautifully and with no complication - it simply opens the .ai file in Reader. The other computers throw the "no program registered" error.

Really appreciate both you and try67 chiming in!

[jane-e]

Hi Brandon,

We have established that this is a bad workflow, but let’s proceed. I think you are on Windows, so there are two things to try:

• In the Windows File Explorer, right-click a PDF and choose that you want to open it with Illustrator everytime, not just this once.
  When you right-click the file, check to see what it says on the computers where it works and the one where it doesn’t and please report back.
• Try opening Adobe Reader first, then File > Open to open the Illustrator file. Does that work?

~ Jane

[brandoninoregon]

Hi Jane,

Thanks again for your response. I did forget to mention that we have already gone through the steps of directly opening the .ai file with Acrobat Reader, and telling Windows to always open it with Acrobat Reader. I have also checked the "File association" settings to ensure that .ai files were set to be opened with Acrobat Reader. And indeed, the .ai file will open successfully in any of the following manners:

1. Opening the file directly by browsing to the directory in Windows Explorer and double-clicking on the file (edited here for clarity)
2. Opening the file directly by opening Acrobat Reader and navigating to the file and opening it
3. Clicking a hyperlink in an Outlook email message (the very same hyperlink which is copied exactly into the Excel spreadsheet, AND which works on other computers).

Thanks so much for the help - would be so good to get to the bottom of why this error pops up from within Excel only...! 😃

Brandon

[try67]

Reader can't open ".ai" files, only PDFs. You will need to install Adobe Illustrator to be open to open them.

[brandoninoregon]

Actually we've had a lot of luck opening .ai files with reader. There seems to be no issue with it - only when referenced via a hyperlink in Excel. Just so folks know that you can actually open .ai files with Reader 😃

[try67]

You're right, actually, it is possible... I stand corrected.