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Littledreamers1979
Participant
March 17, 2026
Question

Illustrator on iPad - Crash on File Open

  • March 17, 2026
  • 2 replies
  • 12 views

I have an iPad Air 13 inch (M3), iPadOS 26.3.1 (23D8133). 
 

The issue that I am facing is illustrator continuously crashing every time I try to open a file, or send a copy of a file from fresco & photoshop, to illustrator. It works on the very odd occasion, but 99% of the time it will just crash once I click ‘OK’ on the import options. This is extremely frustrating as it makes the illustrator app practically unusable, and causes major delays with my work. When I first got the iPad nearly a year ago it worked perfectly, however after one of the updates to the illustrator app maybe around end of last year, it has been doing this. I have uninstalled and reinstalled the app, I have updated iPad software. Nothing is working- please help!

 

note: something that helps occasionally to get a file to open is to open it, and then before selecting ‘OK’ on the import options, waiting for 5-10 minutes. This sometimes works, but again this is hugely impractical.

    2 replies

    Bill Silbert
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    March 17, 2026

    If upon installing the newer version of Illustrator you chose to import previous settings and preferences then that could be the reason for the poor performance. Using older preference that were aligned with the code of the previous version often leads to unexpected problems. Resetting preferences will restore the program to its defaults. Hopefully, this will fix the issues that you’re having.

    To reset preferences:

    For Macintosh Users: The User Library folder in which Illustrator’s preferences are stored is hidden by default on most Macintoshes. To access it make sure that Illustrator is closed and click on the desktop to launch a Finder Window (Command-N).With this window in column view follow the path User>Home folder (it’s the folder with an icon that looks like a house—it may have the user’s name rather than “Home”) and click on the Home folder. With the Option Key pressed choose Library from the Finder Go Menu. “Library” will now appear within the Home folder. Within the Library folder find the folder called Preferences and within it find the folder called “Adobe Illustrator <Version #> Settings” (earlier versions of Illustrator might just say “Adobe Illustrator”) and the file called “com.adobe.Illustrator.plist” and delete both that folder and that file. When Illustrator is next launched it will create new preference files and the program will be restored to its defaults.

    For Windows Users: You can try the quick way of resetting on a PC which is to hold down Ctrl + Alt + Shift when launching Illustrator and respond affirmatively when asked if you want to reset. There have been some recent reports that the window asking if you want to reset is not popping up but that the prefs are being reset anyway. If this works great but if it doesn’t you may have to manually delete them.

    To do so:

    On Windows 7 and above the preference files are hidden. To find them go to the Control Panel and open Folder Options and then click the View tab. Then select “Show hidden files and folders” or “Show hidden files, folders or drive options” in Advanced Settings. Then delete (or rename) the folder at the end of this path: C:\Users\[User Name]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator [version number]\ Settings\<Language>. Make sure that Illustrator is closed when you do this. When you relaunch the program it will create  new preference files and the program will be at its default settings.

    The advantage of manually deleting preference files is that after you’ve reset up the program (make sure that no document window is open) to your liking, you can create copies of your personalized “mint” preference files (make sure that you quit the program before copying them—that finalizes your customization) and use them in the future to replace any corrupt versions you may need to delete.

    Anubhav M
    Community Manager
    Community Manager
    March 17, 2026

    Hello @Littledreamers1979,

    That does seem troubling. Would you mind confirming the versions of Illustrator/Photoshop/Fresco installed, and let us know if this happens with specific files or files with specific object/layer effects, so we can better assist you?

    Also, try removing Fresco, Illustrator and Photoshop, restarting your device and then reinstalling to see if it helps.

    Looking forward to hearing from you.

    Anubhav