Objects disappear, only reappear if overprint is turned on and off

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
January 24, 2024
4 replies
1453 views

Three times now, I have had objects disappear in my files. They are present when I save the file, but when I open the file later, they are gone.

The only way I've discovered to make the objects appear again is to turn overprint on and off again.

This is quite an issue, as I never know when it's going to happen. I'll save a file that looks perfectly fine, but when a client receives it, there will be an object missing.

I've attached a video demonstrating the problem. In the beginning, the object selected in the bottom left corner should be visible. It was visible the last time I had the file open (earlier today). The opacity is 100%, the fill color is black, there are no objects above it.

I turn overprint on, and that causes the object to reappear. If I turn overprint off again, it does not disappear again.

The only common factor that I can think of is that the object that disappeared has been text on a path all three times. I'm currently using Illustrator 2024, but this happened once with Illustrator 2023 as well. This has happened in both .ai and .pdf files.

I appreciate any help with this; I don't like running the risk of sending files to my clients with important parts missing!

Screen_Recording_2024-01-24_at_2-09-08_PM.zip

Bug

This topic has been closed for replies.

Monika Gause

Community Expert

DOes the same happen when you switch from GPU preview to CPU preview and back?

susanoooAuthor

Participating Frequently

Nothing happens when I switch from GPU to CPU and back.

susanoooAuthor

Participating Frequently

I've attached another video demonstrating the problem. This shows that the text objects are visible as I save the document as both .ai and .pdf. I close the document and open it again, and the text objects are gone.

Screen_Recording_2024-01-25_at_4-06-32_PM.zip

Anshul_Saini

Community Manager

Hi @susanh22788950,

Thank you for sharing the file and providing additional information. I've examined the file and reviewed the videos you provided. Unfortunately, I couldn't replicate the issue on my end using Illustrator version 28.1.

Here are some suggestions to troubleshoot and potentially resolve the problem:

- Ensure that the font you are using is installed on your system. If it's a third-party font, make sure it is up-to-date.
- Sometimes, document corruption can lead to unexpected behavior. Try creating a new document and copy-pasting the elements from the problematic file to the new one.
- Convert the text to outlines (create outlines) before saving or sharing the file. This eliminates font-related issues.

If the issue persists after trying these steps, please share any other file where it is reproducible, including the font.

Best,

Anshul Saini

susanoooAuthor

Participating Frequently

The fonts I've used are installed on my system. It is not just one font, but several different ones.

I can copy-paste into a new document or outline the text, and yes, that may solve the issue on a case-by-case basis.

The larger issue is that this has happened three times over the past few months, twice causing me to send files to clients that were missing essential parts (I happened to catch it before sending to the client on the third time). It's incredibly unprocessional and not acceptable in my line of work. The file looks good when I save, it, but is missing the text the next time it is opened. So there is no good way for me to catch it besides closing and opening every file again before sending it out.