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Amiable_Lily463b
Participant
Oct 27, 2026 3:41 PM UTC
Answered

When I open a new document in Adobe, the whole workspace is covered in a pattern of tiny dots.


My workspace after creating a new document.  When I open existing documents, this strange pattern is on top of the existing document.

 

This is affecting both new documents and opening existing ones.

I have updated Adobe Illustrator to the most recent version.  

On my monitor the art board looks red and the workspace appears green.  The windows and tools and surrounding borders of the program appear unaffected.

    Ton Frederiks
    Ton FrederiksCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    Oct 27, 2026 4:28 PM UTC

    ​@Amiable_Lily463b next to the suggestions by Anubhav, You may check if the GPU Preview is causing this. Ctrl E switches between GPU and CPU Preview.

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    5 replies

    Amiable_Lily463bAuthor
    Participant
    Oct 28, 2026 3:03 PM UTC

    I was able to resolve the issue by unchecking “GPU Performance” in the Performance Preferences settings.

     

    Thanks for your help!

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      Harshika Verma
      Community Manager
      Harshika VermaCommunity Manager
      Community Manager
      Oct 30, 2026 1:52 PM UTC

      Awesome. Glad to hear you’re able to resolve the issue, and thanks for confirming here. Please feel free to reach out to us in the future for any assistance. 

      We would be happy to help.
       

      Thanks,

      Harshika

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      Amiable_Lily463bAuthor
      Participant
      Oct 27, 2026 5:20 PM UTC

      I’ll have to get an IT admin to rename the UXP folder, so I’m waiting on that.

      But, I have just discovered that it only happens when my laptop is attached to my desktop set-up.  If the laptop is not attached, files open up like normal with no weird effect on the workspace. 

      The desktop setup has a little brick thing with all the connections to monitors/peripherals and my laptop plugs into the brick.

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      Ton Frederiks
      Community Expert
      Ton FrederiksCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
      Community Expert
      Oct 27, 2026 4:28 PM UTC

      ​@Amiable_Lily463b next to the suggestions by Anubhav, You may check if the GPU Preview is causing this. Ctrl E switches between GPU and CPU Preview.

      Translate
      Anubhav M
      Community Manager
      Anubhav MCommunity Manager
      Community Manager
      Oct 27, 2026 3:53 PM UTC

      Hello ​@Amiable_Lily463b 

       

      I’m sorry to hear about your experience. Would you mind trying the following steps and checking if they help:
       
      - Close all Adobe applications.
      - Rename the UXP folder to UXP.old from the following location:
      (Windows) Navigate to C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\UXP 
      - Relaunch Illustrator

       

      Looking forward to hearing from you.
      Anubhav

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