Remember the days when Illustrator wasn't garbage and you didnt have to quit the app about 10 times a day

Hi @Michaeldesign,

Thanks for reaching out sorry to hear you're experiencing this. Could you please let us know your Illustrator version (Help > About Illustrator), your operating system and version, whether this happens with all documents or only specific ones, and whether the linked files are stored on a local drive, network drive, or cloud storage?

In the meantime, please try resetting your Illustrator preferences (after creating a backup): https://adobe.ly/4gl5LGl, run Illustrator as Administrator (Windows) by right-clicking and selecting the 'Run as Administrator option', test in Safe Mode (Windows: https://adobe.ly/44aJpjI | macOS: https://adobe.ly/4f15INK), and check whether the affected artwork is linked or embedded in the Links panel.

Please let us know how it goes, and we'll be happy to investigate further.

Abhishek