Object effect spot/global color not updating live

Forum|Forum|9 months ago
July 3, 2025
2 replies
213 views

Applying a glow to an object using a spot color from my swatches, then editing the spot color afterward, the glow effect color did not update while editing or after commiting a change to the spot color. Turning the glow effect off and then on again in the appearance panel reset the appearance of the glow and the updated spot color shows. I think this applies also to other live effects using spot or global colors.

Please can the spot colors displayed in object effects update as you are editing the spot color? Before commiting the color change ideally (as object fills and strokes update live as you edit the color).

Thanks for your consideration.

Kurt Gold

Community Expert

I can reproduce the (mis-)behaviour and I think it is a known issue at least in the Windows version of Illustrator.

It has already been reported a few times.

The colour update will only be live if Overprint Preview is turned on in the View menu.

Abhishek Rao

Community Manager

Hi @peter_2628,

Thanks a lot for sharing all the details, that really helps.

I just tried reproducing this on my end using Illustrator version 29.6.1, and I was actually able to see the glow effect color update live when editing the spot color swatch. Could you please confirm the exact version of Illustrator you are using and your operating system details? Also, please check if this happens in a newly created file as well, just to rule out any file-specific issues.

If the issue persists, please try resetting your Illustrator preferences and then test again. Helpful guide: https://adobe.ly/46reCBk. Just make sure to back up your existing preferences before resetting. The article has steps on how to do that.

Looking forward to hearing back.

Abhishek

P

peter_2628Author

Participant

29.5.1 on MacOS 15.5
Investigating this I did try it with a drop shadow and saw it update live. Then tried it with glow and the colour did not update.
I encountered this problem originally using Astute Graphics AG Block Shadow plugin .... so not redrawing the spot colour live effects other effects too.
Regards,

Anubhav M

Community Manager

Hello @peter_2628,

Thanks for confirming. Could you try updating Illustrator (https://adobe.ly/4l7aefn) and the Astute plugin to the latest version to see if it works better there?

Looking forward to hearing from you.
Anubhav

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