Participant

Question

Artboard Has Same Number As Previous

Forum|Forum|8 years ago
October 31, 2017
16 replies
38803 views

In duplicating artboards in Illustrator in Windows 10. Select Alt and drag to create a new artboard NO problem. My artboards go from 25, 27, 27, 28. I cannot get a 26. I have created a new artboard at the end and even tried to move it between 25 and 27 to create a 26 and Illustrator will not do it. I still get two 27 artboards. SO the secondary 27 will not export. I have to create one at the end and rename it. I've done this for years, WHAT is going on??? It's a glitch and how do I fix it?

illustrator artboard problem

Sergey Osokin

Inspiring

This has been an ongoing issue for several years. It's one of the highest-rated reports on UserVoice, and it appears randomly for users and often disappears when the document is reopened.

https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447-illustrator-desktop-bugs/suggestions/39220252-artboards-with-the-same-number-missing-number

ztmiller

Participant

Issue still exists on 29.8.4 in in 2026.

Anubhav M

Community Manager

Hello @ztmiller

I’m sorry to hear you’re having similar trouble with Illustrator. Would you mind updating your OS and Illustrator to the latest versions and checking if that helps?

If the problem persists, kindly confirm whether it occurs with all files and share a sample file along with a brief screen recording of the issue so we can check with the team.

Looking forward to hearing from you.
Anubhav

T

Tyler253092447he3

Participant

I had the exact same problem. I used the dialog when you first start a new file to create the artboards. Using Illustrator CC, up to do date as of posting. Restarted Illustrator and it seemed to fix itself.

Anubhav M

Community Manager

Hello @Tyler253092447he3,

Glad to hear that the problem was resolved.

Feel free to reach out if you need further assistance. We'd be happy to help.

Thanks,

Anubhav

peterk91912804

Participant

Restarting Illustrator is a temporary fix. The glitch continues to occur.

G

gingging65

Participating Frequently

I have had this issue intermittently for a few years, and in various versions of Illustrator. I just had it today in version 26.3.1. I quit Illustrator and restarted my computer, and the artboards were then normal when I went back to the same file. No idea why, but sharing that in case it saves anyone else a lot of headaches. Here's hoping this gets fixed once and for all (but if not, that a restart will continue to serve as a workaround). Otherwise, this is completely maddening.

S

SundayGladiator

Legend

Yup. Thanks for this note. Using AI 26.5, same duplication issue with my slides 201 and 201. Quit AI, restart machine, now I get 200 and 201 in correct sequence. 👍

peterk91912804

Participant

I have been having this glitch happen for a long time and I finally figured something interesting out! It has nothing to do with the file, it is the illustrator session itself. This is why sending the file to someone does nothing, as soon as that file is opened in another session or on a different computer, the glitch is cleared. That is also why quitting illustrator completely fixes it (until it happens again that is)

Here's the common symptoms I have every time this happens:

the artboard number before the glitched number will be overridden - so the artboards will read 1, 2, 3, 5, 5, 6, where 5 is really artboard 4. When exported, the art from artboard 4 (labeled 5) as will override artboard 5 and there will be no artboard 4 file.
It has nothing to do with the file
Happens at random
Duplicating excessive artboards or working in large files does not cause the glitch 100% of the time, but that is usually when it occurs (for me)
Force quitting or ending the illustrator session clears the glitch
closing and reopening the file without closing illustrator does NOT clear the glitch
the duplicated artboard number is different each time - I've had just artboard number 8 duplicate in some instances, and in other instances it'll be artboard 14, 57, 72, 65, etc. Totally random and could be any number of artboards.
if you open a file that has multiple artboards already (and didn't previously have the glitch) it will now show the glitch on the same number as the other files opened in that same illustrator session.
cloning artboards, drawing new artboards, or adding artboards with the + icon in the artboard panel makes no difference, the glitch still occurs.

I'm attaching a screen recording showing the artboard glitch.

Untitled-37__@_25_%_(CMYK_Preview)__2022-03-22_12-08-21.zip

DADO

Participating Frequently

I know it is not the best solution, but force quitting and reopening solved it for me.

J

Jonathan Quintin

Participating Frequently

Not for me. The incorrect Artboard pages was saved to the file. Everytime I opened this document, the pages had duplicate. I sent the file to OP of this thread.

J

Jake22967896lw1c

Participant

Hopefully this can be fixed. The artboards are numbered correctlly in the panel but do not export to match.

Method of duplication should be irrelevant.

Myself designing logos, it's not practical to copy and paste in place whole or parts of logos on newly created art boards. Then to duplicate sets of 10 or more artworks for colour and other variants is extremely impractical.

As per the previous comment, simply artboard 26 or in my case 33 & 35 should export as that artboard.

D

defaultb2j71edtq0qj

Participant

Same thing happened to me for the first time which I found really odd. My AI version is CC 2019, but I'm surprised since 2017, this issue has not been fixed. Usually when I want to duplicate an artboard, I would drag and drop an existing one and move it to the side. This would automatically create a new artboard for me. However, I noticed that if there was a layer/vector touching both artboards, both artboards would be assigned the same artboard number. When I deleted that layer/vector and drag from the existing artboard to duplicate, then it becomes a new artboard. However, that only worked like once or twice. Other times, when I tried it again, the artboard number would still not change, no matter how many times I tried to switch it up. So in the end, if I want to export particular number of artboards, I'll have to create new artboards in order to get different numbers to export.

Anshul_Saini

Community Manager

Hi there,

Sorry about the trouble and delayed response. You may try updating to the latest version of Illustrator v26.0.1 and let us know if this issue persists there.

Regards,

Anshul Saini

C

carlp31101002

Participating Frequently

Hi @Jake Arthur,

We are sorry about the trouble. Could you please share a few more details like:

Would it be possible for you to share this document with us? You can upload it to the Creative Cloud/Dropbox/ Google Drive or any other similar service and share the download link here or via DM.
Could it be possible for you to share a small video demonstrating & replicating the issue? That would be really helpful.
Do you recall how did you created the artboard 33 or 35 Artboard (By duplicating or creating the new Artboard by Alt/opt+drag or copying & pasting or by using the artboard tool?

This information will help us investigate the issue further.

Thanks & Regards,
Anshul Saini

I am experiencing the same issue regularly on Mac, Illustrator 26.03.01, both when creating new documents from scratch with mulitple artboards, and when duplicating artboards.

MeHawk

Participant

This seems to an ongoing problem even for newer versions I am having this issue Win 10 Pro - AI cc2018 ver25.4.1

MeHawk

Participant

Win 10 Pro - AI cc2021 ver25.4.1

Anshul_Saini

Community Manager

Hi there,

Sorry to hear about the trouble you are facing. I am unable to replicate this issue at my end in Illustrator v25.4.1 on Windows 10.

I would like to know if you have tried resetting the Illustrator preferences as mentioned above?

I will be looking forward to your response.

Thanks and Regards,

Anshul Saini

J

Josh @ AGX

Participant

Been having this issue for years. The screenshot attached are examples all from a single file I am working in right now. Close and reopen the file and the duplicates stay there, but if my coworker does the same on his computer they don't show. Makes no sense. If I try to export it ignores the second artboard of the same number and that art doesn't get exported.

Srishti Bali

Legend

Hi there,

Sorry about this experience. We got a few reports for this issue last year, but it was resolved in later updates. Could you please confirm which OS and version of Illustrator is this?

Does resetting Illustrator Preferences (https://helpx.adobe.com/in/illustrator/using/setting-preferences.html) help to resolve the issue?

Please note that resetting preferences will remove all the custom settings and Illustrator will launch with default settings. You can also take a backup of the folders in case you want to. Location is mentioned in the article.

Regards,

Srishti

M

mar15C2

Participant

it just happened to me on Win 10 x64 - AI cc2018 ver22.0.0

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