Document Won't Open -- All work is gone!!!

I seem to have a consistent problem when working in Motion. When I try and export/share the file, it won't export. I then quit the application and restart it and now the previous document that I was working on will no longer open. I don't have any plugins being used or complicated camera moves/SFX, this is very basic keyframe animation. I've gone back to my AutoSave files and NONE of those won't open either. All my work is completely gone.

I have tried moving the document to another computer--same thing. The file is definitely corrupt and I don't know why.

Now I'm concerned about doing any work in Motion as I'm afraid that all of it will end up with the same result. An animation that I cannot export nor can I use later. I have other Motion docs that will open (very similar animations too), so I am completely flummoxed as to why this won't work!


Please, any thoughts would be appreciated!! (I've attached the document it that is of any help.)

I ran into this.

Note*
I am an artist only, not a coder. My coworkers helped me with this solution. My account will be crappy but I hope it helps you start to fix it.

I cut/pasted text from Illustrator into Motion. Apparently this can add some unwanted junk code to the XML. You need to get an XML editor and use that to find the error, delete the bad code, and fix the file. (I just found an article on this: google it.) My coworker who had an XML editor did the fix for me.

Good luck!

Ah, yup, you are right!! I recall this problem in the past and that was the exact same thing that I did that messed me up. I did try and use an XML editor but I couldn't figure it out and had to just start over. I think I need to put a post-it note on my computer to remind me.

Many thanks!!

Any thoughts on what to search for? I've tried multiple searches and I'm coming up empty.