Hello,

I'm new to Pure Data and am having trouble opening files using [open]. The object just doesn't create, giving me a box with dotted lines around it instead of a solid line.

I've looked up multiple videos where people use objects like [readsf~] and [writesf~] to read and write audio, with the [open] object. I can't do this in vanilla Pure Data or Pd-Extended. However, [readsf~] and [writesf~] both seem to appear correctly.

My patch:

What am I doing wrong?

@dracodrago1330 [open] is not an object in pd vanilla. you probably mean to make a message box instead of an object box. Message boxes send messages when clicked or banged, or can substitute incoming atoms for $1, $2 etc.. Object boxes process and send messages and/or audio. Messages are the packets used to carry data and communicate (over patch cables or "sends") , objects use that data and can send messages themselves. Message boxes are just a convenient way to input, format, and send a message, and maybe substitute values from an incoming message.
you may want to review this section of the manual:
http://msp.ucsd.edu/Pd_documentation/x2.htm#s1.3

also, the files 2.control.examples/04.messages.pd and 2.control.examples/10.more.messages.pd in the documentation

you send "open" messages to objects like [readsf~] and [writesf~] to tell them to open a file. Examples can be found in their help files.