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harrisbeeman1
Participant
June 21, 2017
Answered

image trace in illustrator greyed out

  • June 21, 2017
  • 8 replies
  • 179660 views

Everything on image trace is greyed out.  Preset, View, Mode, Palette, Threshold (and everything in the advanced section too.)  I think I hit a button that caused this, but now not sure what to do?

    Correct answer Monika Gause
    @Scrambledeggs  schrieb:

    The issue may be the image itself. I tried copying a raster image from Powerpoint and pasting it into Illustrator. All Object > Image trace options were greyed out. If you have a raster image for which you don't have the original source, try pasting it into Photoshop and exporting it. Then placing the exported image into Illustrator. This worked for me and I was able to trace the image.

     

     

    Images pasted from somewhere can be inside clipping masks. Just release them.

    8 replies

    D
    dBlueFalconEdits
    Participant
    August 19, 2025

    The solution for me (because I had the same issue) was to "Flatten Transparency" then the Image Trace window was not greyed out anymore. Hope this helps someone!

     

    S
    Scrambledeggs
    Participating Frequently
    October 31, 2024

    The issue may be the image itself. I tried copying a raster image from Powerpoint and pasting it into Illustrator. All Object > Image trace options were greyed out. If you have a raster image for which you don't have the original source, try pasting it into Photoshop and exporting it. Then placing the exported image into Illustrator. This worked for me and I was able to trace the image.

     

    Monika Gause
    Community Expert
    Monika GauseCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    November 1, 2024
    @Scrambledeggs  schrieb:

    The issue may be the image itself. I tried copying a raster image from Powerpoint and pasting it into Illustrator. All Object > Image trace options were greyed out. If you have a raster image for which you don't have the original source, try pasting it into Photoshop and exporting it. Then placing the exported image into Illustrator. This worked for me and I was able to trace the image.

     

     

    Images pasted from somewhere can be inside clipping masks. Just release them.

      B
      Brian242056968mdg
      Participant
      March 29, 2024

      It must be an ai file, not eps.

      K
      Keaton22551554nahp
      Participant
      January 7, 2022

      Also the trace option will be greyed-out when in preview mode, so exit preview mode to trace image. 

       

        C
        CreativeLeaDesign
        Participant
        January 20, 2021

        Thanks Barbabra Ash. I created a screenshot of the "image" created a new Illustrator document, and that then recognised it as an image! I'm tracing away now 🙂

        yichinpeh
        yichinpeh
        Participant
        March 23, 2021

        I applied a pixelate filter to a shape and I can't trace it. Is there a better way than screenshotting it?

        Ton Frederiks
        Community Expert
        Ton FrederiksCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        March 23, 2021

        Object > Expand Appearance

        K
        kimmarla
        Participant
        January 9, 2018

        This just happened to me, too, and I realized the image had a clipping path applied. I released that and trace worked as expected.

          M
          MylesGelbach
          Participant
          January 18, 2018

          Having the same issue, this was my problem.

          Thank you Saved me some time for sure.

          barbara_a7746676
          Community Expert
          barbara_a7746676Community Expert
          Community Expert
          June 22, 2017

          As srisht said, it may be that the image is not selected.

          Other things to check:

          • Is what you are trying to trace actually an image? If it is vector, Image Trace will be grayed out.
          • Try creating a new Illustrator file. Then choose File > Place. Navigate to the image you want to trace and place it into your Illustrator file. When it is selected, is Image Trace still grayed out?
            kenb47
            kenb47
            Participant
            March 19, 2018

            I took a photo using adobe capture and saved it as a pdf. (and emailed it to another working location).

            I then opened it in AI-CC (it looked like a vector but selected like a pixel image).

            Image trace was greyed out.

            I then 'Placed' the image/vector into a newly created AI-CC doc., and it acted more like a pixel file.

            Image Trace was now available.

            Thanks

            Srishti Bali
            Community Manager
            Srishti BaliCommunity Manager
            Community Manager
            June 21, 2017

            Hi semibold,

            Please make sure if the image is selected, this generally happens when the image is not selected.

            Also,  Could you please confirm if it is happening with other files as well?

            If yes, please reset Illustrator preferences to defaults , for details click here How to set preferences in Illustrator

            If it still does not help we would require some more details like

            Operating system (Exact version of windows or MAC)

            Exact version of Illustrator

            Were the files are saved (Both illustrator and place image)

            Regards

            Srishti

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