Can't open Keynote 09 file

Question

Level 1

5 points

Can't open Keynote 09 file

I have a file, created in Keynote 09, that I cannot open anymore. I receive the message "Unable to open 'filename' because it isn't a valid keynote document". Same message when double-clicking the file or from the Open... menu. I suspect the file is corrupted as Keynote 09 was behaving strangely when I was editing it (very slow operations). I saved the file and restarted Keynote and that's when the file wouldn't open anymore. I restarted the Mac (MacBook Pro, unibody) and still no luck. I made a copy of the file in the Finder successfully, but I get the same message with the copy. The file can be viewed in QuickLook just fine.
Is there a file repair utility for Keynote 09?

Cheers,
Bill

Message was edited by: Bill Clarke

MacBook Pro 15" unibody, Mac OS X (10.5.6)

Posted on Feb 2, 2009 1:45 AM

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Answer 1

Feb 2, 2009 1:45 PM in response to Bill Clarke

Hi Bill - This is the same message I would get if I was trying to launch a Keynote 09 document using Keynote 08. It's quite possible the icon on your dock might be pointing to the Keynote 08 app if it's still on your machine, as the installer for iWork 09 does not remove the iWork 08 folder.

Hope this is it - otherwise, there is no repair utility that I know of.

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Answer 2

Pels

Level 1

0 points

Feb 18, 2009 8:43 PM in response to Bill Clarke

I have the same problem and of course it is the night before my presentation and I am in total limbo. I tried renaming, changing the extension, opening with other apps and no luck. This appears to be a corruption or something. It shows in the preview but I can't open it in preview.

Any help.....!!!????

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Answer 3

craz11

Level 1

0 points

Feb 19, 2009 11:11 AM in response to Pels

I am having the same problem, using the iWork 09 trial. Everything was working fine, saved the file, shut down my system and went to my meeting.

Imagine my shock when I couldn't open my presentation just minutes before I had to present!

If this isn't patched soon, there is no way I'm buying iWork!

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Answer 4

Brian Peat

Level 6

18,216 points

Feb 20, 2009 7:53 AM in response to craz11

I'm with Craig, I've seen this happen countless times and all it was was the old version being launched. No one responded to his message to say if they even checked that.

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Answer 5

Jokerz

Level 1

0 points

Feb 26, 2009 1:55 AM in response to Brian Peat

Same problem! And no older version of iWork installed. Obviously, tomorrow I have my presentation...

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Answer 6

Bill Clarke Author

Level 1

5 points

Mar 4, 2009 2:27 PM in response to Bill Clarke

It is not a Keynote 08 problem - I removed Keynote 08 and I tried opening the file in Keynote 09 from the File->Open menu. I even tried using a hex editor to see if I could find where the corruption might be from comparing with non-corrupt files - no luck.

I had to cancel my lecture (which was the next morning) and recreate the presentation from scratch - a big pain.

I've been using Keynote 09 since my original problem (Feb 2) without a problem - until just now. Another lecture to give - this time the day after tomorrow. The presentation file will not open with the same error message. I think I may have an earlier version backed up with Time Machine in my office, I'll have to check tomorrow to see how much work I'll have to do to get the lecture redone.

This is a REAL problem - I hope Apple will fix it soon!

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Answer 7

Mar 4, 2009 2:41 PM in response to Bill Clarke

Please post feedback to Apple about it. They might even ask for the bad file in order to see what happened.

I believe that Keynote "files" are packages. You might try digging in with the finder to see what you can rescue.

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Answer 8

Bill Clarke Author

Level 1

5 points

Mar 5, 2009 6:08 AM in response to Keith Barkley

I was looking to see where I could send a report to Apple and haven't found it yet.
Keynote 08 presentations were packages - for Keynote 09 they changed the format to a single file.
Bill

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Answer 9

Mar 5, 2009 8:11 AM in response to Bill Clarke

Jeez, that was harder than I thought! I finally found it on the main apple/iwork site under "resources":
http://www.apple.com/feedback/keynote.html?cmp

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Answer 10

Bill Clarke Author

Level 1

5 points

Mar 5, 2009 8:24 AM in response to Keith Barkley

Thanks - I got tied up and didn't get a chance to look further. I'll send them a message and post back here if I get any meaningful response.

Time Machine saved me a bit. I got the file back but all the backups from yesterday were corrupt. So I have about 3 hours of work to reconstruct what I've lost.

Bill

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Answer 11

proots

Level 1

0 points

Mar 13, 2009 4:11 PM in response to Bill Clarke

Got the same issue. I really hope I can get my file open. I have the presentation in a couple of days. Contacted Apple support, we'll see if they can help.

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Answer 12

Apr 5, 2009 7:02 PM in response to Bill Clarke

Same problem here. Left feedback on Keynote web site. Anyone got a fix??

Funny enough, Quick Look is able to show the content.

Message was edited by: IMfotograf

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Answer 13

Brie Fly

Level 5

7,925 points

Apr 5, 2009 7:59 PM in response to IMfotograf

It might be helpful if any of the "same problem here" posters would try creating a new user account to see if Keynote works normally in the new account.

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Answer 14

Apr 7, 2009 6:14 AM in response to IMfotograf

It's not that unusual that quicklook can preview, it just looks for the thumbnail image inside the file contents. Heaps else can go wrong with a file with it still having a valid thumbnail and .keynote wrapper.

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Answer 15

Apr 7, 2009 8:27 PM in response to Brie Fly

Tried to open the file on three different computers, wouldn't work. Gave up and started all over again.

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