Participating Frequently

Question

Application menu does not show the dropdown of options when hovering mouse over it.

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
February 1, 2024
7 replies
2205 views

I have an issue being reported to me by a faculty member in one of our Mac Labs who says this about Illustrator 2024 version 28.1:

The error is with the application's menu bar. The menu bar is not allowing students to select options other than "Illustrator" and "Help." For example, if a student hovers their mouse over File, Edit, Object, Type, etc nothing is happening.

This is on macOS 14.3 Sonoma. The computers are all iMac (Retina 4K, 21.5-inch, 2019) models. No plug-ins installed. The "fixes" so far have been to quit the program and launch it again. This sometimes works. Or, to restart the computer. I have also re-installed the application on four of the machines, too.

Anyone else seeing this problem?

Bug

This topic has been closed for replies.

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kg.kealagrace

New Participant

Same issue. New computer, Latest OS, latest version of AI. Looks like it has been happening for years with ton of people. So hey Adobe, with all that money you are raking in, what is keeping you all from actually fixing this rediculous issue?

Monika Gause

Community Expert

Are you on Sonoma?

Do you have the Magnet or Rectangle app or something similar?

Do you have Proofpoint installed?

C

Chris36345071ur71

New Participant

yup same for me Mac book Pro none of the fixes and worked, i have had this before but this feels like a major bug , done multiple restsarts, lost about three hours, client deadline blows by, its kinda sucky how iunrelable a tool this is becoming.

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Simon_Atterbury

Known Participant

Having the same issue for weeks on an Intel i9 MacBook Pro running 14.2.1 and AI 28.4 with an AMD Radeon Pro 5500M GPU. I thought it was just me. Am having to quit multiple times per day to recover menus and using the save keyboard short cut so I dont loose my work. I actually think this is an issue with the OS rather than Illustrator as Sonoma seems quite buggy.

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Anubhav M

Community Manager

Hello @Simon_Atterbury,

We understand that encountering technical issues can be frustrating. Would you mind trying to run Illustrator under Safe Mode (Windows / macOS) and checking if it helps? Also, try running Illustrator under a different administrator account (Windows / macOS) and share your observations.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,

Anubhav

dan_thecolourcartel

New Participant

Same problem here - repetitive issues and very annoying. Has been happening for a month or two now.
When rebooting I am able to access it again, however I've found now that if I create a shape, in this case a shape with transparent fill and stroke with the aim of selecting it, then going to Select > Same > Fill and Stroke, as soon as I create the shape I can't access the menu again. First time I've been able to identify when and where it happens, normally I find after about 20 minutes I have to save and restart again to regain use.

Please provide some assistance, its SO time consuming!

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kfatticAuthor

Participating Frequently

What version of Illustrator are you working with and what version of Windows/Mac OS are you using? I believe our issue was somewhat mitigated with using the most recent version of Illustrator out now (28.3) and macOS 14.4. I say this as I don't have a ticket open at our EDU with a faculty member or student. If you have the same as we do, I can ask the professor that originally put in a ticket to see if they can replicate this issue, too.

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CindyRVA

Participating Frequently

SAME issue on a Macbook Pro with a fresh install and it's not preferences or settings or corrupt, it's GOT to be a bug, as it was on my older MBP too. #bug

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Anubhav M

Community Manager

Hello @CindyRVA,

We understand how frustrating it can be to encounter technical issues in the middle of work. Would you mind trying the suggestions shared by Myra and checking if it helps? If the problem persists, kindly share more details, like the exact version of the OS/Illustrator, system config (CPU/GPU/Memory), and a screen recording of the problem (https://adobe.ly/3I16fiw), so we can investigate this further.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,
Anubhav

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CindyRVA

Participating Frequently

IT IS A BUG, not my computer, or settings.

Myra Ferguson

Community Expert

I just found this Knowledge Base article that might help:

https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/kb/menu-disappears.html

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kfatticAuthor

Participating Frequently

Myra, I meant to post back after looking at this link. It was helpful. I don't believe their suggestion fixed the issue, but we have since upgraded Illustrator and the version of macOS and I don't believe the issue is persisting.

Myra Ferguson

Community Expert

I'm glad the link was helpful and that it's no long an issue. 🙂

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ripleyb

New Participant

I've also had this issue and heard from others that it's a consistent issue for them. I'm hoping there will be an Illustrator update soon.

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kfatticAuthor

Participating Frequently

Thanks for the update. I'm curious if you are seeing this on Apple Silicon as well as Intel?

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kfatticAuthor

Participating Frequently

*Apple Silicon or Intel

Myra Ferguson

Community Expert

You could try resetting Illustrator's preferences:

https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/setting-preferences.html

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kfatticAuthor

Participating Frequently

I appreciate the reply. I should mention that since these are lab machines, the user accounts are removed daiily at 5 a.m. and on restart, so no preferences for that specfic account would be stored. The user account is newly created on login in our envrionment.

Myra Ferguson

Community Expert

Then it could be an installation issue. Whoever administrates the lab machines might try uninstalling and reinstalling.

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