I’ve been working on a LO file and it stopped saving and now the file and the backup won’t open…
Don’t double post. One is enough.
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I’m new here 
have deleted the other post
There’s a .dwg file embedded in the LayOut file but that .dwg appears to be corrupted. The file’s thumbnail image is also corrupted.
Have you got the backup copy of the file?
Where have you been saving the file while working on it?
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back up file
working on a thumbdrive as my laptop has space issues
this file is working however this one is older - and I’m trying to access the work i’ve done in the last few hours- which is the other two links shared - thank you Dropbox
The backup has the same problems.
Unfortunately this has been the undoing for many users. It doesn’t appear that your files can be saved. I’m afraid you’d need to start over with a new LayOut file.
If your laptop has space issues I would suggest taking some time to clean it up to free some space. Then save your file and its references to the internal drive.
I extracted the viable images from your corrupted LayOut file.
ref.zip (12.3 MB)
FWIW I’m getting the same error with the file in your last link, too.
Thanks Dave - I can see that in your other comments too regarding the hard drive versus Onedrive, etc. I have only had an issue this week - could it be version 2023 files saving to version 2025?
Probably not a version change.
I’d say you’ve been fairly lucky if you’ve been working from a thumb drive for a while and this is the first time you had the problem.
this week was the thumb drive - previously it was laptop with back up to cloud
Any suggestions on operating systems for designers?
I don’t know. That sort of question is like asking who makes the best pickup truck, Ford or Chevy. You’ll get strong opinions on both sides and in reality neither one is really better than the other. I have used both Windows and Mac. I prefer Windows but I’m sure there will be a few Mac users that will chime in and tell you that Apple is the way to go. I think really you just need to figure out what you are comfortable with and go that way. Look at pricing and the ability to make upgrades if needed. I have a notebook for when I have to travel but for daily use I have a desktop PC that has a discrete graphics card which can be updated some day in the future if I find a need for it. There are three large internal drives with space for several more so internal storage space shouldn’t become an issue. The notebook has two drives so there’s a fair amount of storage space but I don’t keep much on it. Only current and some recent files.
I would give some thought to what is really important to you and go from there.
thanks - working out the size of the operating system is definitely challenging - I’m a windows user
Picking an operating system by size is probably not the way to go. If you are sticking with Windows you should be using Windows 11 at this point. Windows 10 stopped getting support in October of last year.
By the way, what operating system are you currently using?
Are you thinking about getting a new computer?
I am definitely considering a new computer 
Space is my issue at the moment so the whole laptop is not working - I’m on a dell Inspiron 14 which I know is not designed for design work
Any chance you can create / load and explode a PDF back into Layout? I can’t remember if that’s possible?
and I’m on Windows 11
Look for a new computer with a current nVidia graphics card and a second drive for storing files separate from the drive holding the operating system. There have been quite a few cases in which users with Radeon graphics have reported problems. I’ve seen enough of those reports to make me avoid them altogether.
Not really. You could make screenshots of the PDF pages and insert those images into LayOut but it’s not really the same. You just have pictures of the PDF in LayOut.a
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This is just my opinion and my case. If you need portability, go with Mac, only MacBooks deliver full power on battery and battery lasts 4 times more than any windows laptop even one with a weaker hardware, I’m still using my M1 Max MacBook Pro from 2021, the performance is awesome and the battery still works for a couple days without having to charge it, there’s also no difference in performance between plugged or unplugged, windows laptops must be plugged to deliver full power. If you don’t need portability you could build yourself a windows desktop a few months ago for a reasonably price, now prices are crazy expensive and it’s cheaper to get a second hand Mac Studio M4 that will out perform any windows pc for the same price or even more expensive.
I have a windows desktop as well because there were programs that I needed that only ran on windows but now all the program I use run natively on macOS, if that’s not your case, you should get a windows device, it is possible to run windows software on modern Macs but the performance won’t be the same. I’ve been having issues with sketchup 2026 on windows but not on macOS, I think I will get an M5 Max Mac Studio to replace my desktop when it’s released.
Well, that didn’t take long.. 