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Daniel Bevis
Participating Frequently
May 5, 2026
Answered

Illustrator Workspace and Toolbars not appearing

  • May 5, 2026
  • 1 reply
  • 20 views

Hey all. I booted up Illustrator this morning [a W10 PC] to suddenly find that none of the toolbars or workspaces show up, just the artboard.
I can toggle each element separately [Layers etc] on from the menu above, but they do not remain with a fresh session, and trying to even switch to one of the default Workspaces [less my own] does nothing.

I’ve tried resetting to the default Preferences, as well as making sure I’ve not selected the Tab key on my keyboard somehow by mistake - but to no avail [of course].

Just wondered if there was anything else I could do before trying this Creative Cloud Cleaner tool for a clean installation? 

I’ve never had this particular problem in all my years with the program. And I’ve been on this latest public version since it went live, so weird how it just happened now.

    Correct answer Abhishek Rao

    Hi @Daniel Bevis,


    Thanks for reaching out, and I'm sorry you're running into this issue.

    Could you please try manually resetting the Illustrator preferences and then test the behavior again? You can follow the steps shown in this video to walk through the process: https://adobe.ly/4eti9TV

    Additionally, this community thread covers a very similar issue and may help confirm the fix: https://adobe.ly/4d7kGAG


    After trying this, let me know if the workspace and panels are now retained after relaunch, or if the issue still persists so I can assist you further.

    Abhishek

    1 reply

    Abhishek Rao
    Community Manager
    Abhishek RaoCommunity ManagerCorrect answer
    Community Manager
    May 5, 2026

    Hi @Daniel Bevis,


    Thanks for reaching out, and I'm sorry you're running into this issue.

    Could you please try manually resetting the Illustrator preferences and then test the behavior again? You can follow the steps shown in this video to walk through the process: https://adobe.ly/4eti9TV

    Additionally, this community thread covers a very similar issue and may help confirm the fix: https://adobe.ly/4d7kGAG


    After trying this, let me know if the workspace and panels are now retained after relaunch, or if the issue still persists so I can assist you further.

    Abhishek

    Daniel Bevis
    Participating Frequently
    May 5, 2026

    Ah, thank you so much Abhishek - that did the trick!  

    I guess the program preferences / settings had got corrupted somehow [the whole program feels a bit snappier atm now as well].

    With best regards,

    ~ Dan