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Participant
March 11, 2026
Question

Search isn't working in Illustrator

  • March 11, 2026
  • 1 reply
  • 40 views

Unlike some of the other posts I’ve read, I have a search field to enter my keywords...it just doesn’t work. It started about a month ago. The field works fine in photoshop. I have a creative cloud subscription and work on a pc (unsure of operating system as I came from MacOS background). Why hasn’t this been resolved?

    1 reply

    Spas K.
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    March 12, 2026

    The field (if we are talking about the search field in the home / files screen) works fine for me.

    Are you all up to date with both Illustrator and Creative Cloud app? Have you tried logging out and back in Creative Cloud?

    Participant
    March 12, 2026

    Correct me if I’m wrong, but since I use Creative Cloud aren’t I always using the latest versions? It’s not like the software is installed on my computer. Yes, I’ve logged in and out dozens of times. Another thought: I’ve always used the search field in the upper right of the screen; however, there is one towards the bottom of the screen. Do they operate the same way? Thanks.

    Spas K.
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    March 12, 2026

    Not necessarily. Desktop apps (Illustrator, Photoshop, etc) and the Creative Cloud app are installed on your computer, even if they have some web and cloud components these days. Web versions (ones you open from a browser) are not, but I doubt we are talking about that.

    Auto-update is often enabled by default in the CC app, but doesn’t have to be. 

    In Illustrator, on the home screen - you have a search icon at the very top right, which opens a search bar that isn’t very responsive. It searches through both your files and stuff on Adobe Stock and other places. 

    If you go to the “Your files” tab on the left, you now see your files in the cloud, and you have a search field right above the files on the right (“Enter keyword”) that works much faster as it simply filters from all the files displayed.

    In case I have misunderstood and we are talking about something different - feel free to post a screenshot. Not sure which this bottom search field is.