Cannot Open Illustrator

[KinkoStar]

Hello.  Adobe Master Collection 6 is installed on my Mac computer.  Since yesterday, I have not been able to open Illustrator.  After I click the icon to open it, for a few seconds it begins to open, but stops with the following message: Missing required plugins.  PDF Format.aip OK

Please tell me what I should do to fix the problem.  Thank you.

[Monika Gause]

WHat have you changed yesterday?

Did you change anything in the system?

Which system is it?

Did you try a restart (of the computer)?

Resetting the preferences?

Create a new user account on the computer and run from that one?

But also: Illustrator might just be corrupted. Then you need to uninstall, run the Adobe Cleaner tool and reinstall.

[Jacob Bugge]

KinkoStar,

You may try 3) or 4) on the list, or go straight to 6:

If things that should work simply refuse to (all possibilities exhausted (and carefully making sure you are performing (all) the needed things)), you may try the list below.

Sometimes, (certain) things may fail or stop working for no apparent reason. When the (other) possible reasons/cures fail to work, it may be some kind of (temporay or permanent) corruption, or even some inconvenient preference setting(s), which may be cured with something on the following list set up in an attempt to provide a catchall solution for otherwise unsolvable cases. It starts with a few easy and harmless suggestions 1) and 2) for milder cases, and goes on with two alternative ways 3) and 4) of resetting preferences to the defaults (easily but irreversibly and more laboriously but more thoroughly and also reversibly), then follows a list 5) of various other possibilities, and it ends with a full reinstallation 6). If no other suggestions work, or if no other suggestions appear, you may start on the list and decide how far to go and/or which may be relevant.

The following is a general list of things you may try when

A) The issue is not in a specific file,

B) You have a printer correctly installed, connected, and turned on if it is physical printer (you may use Adobe PDF/Acrobat Distiller as the default printer with no need to have a printer turned on, obviously you will need to specify when you actually need to print on paper), and

C) It is not caused by issues with opening a file from external media (see at the bottom).

You may have tried/done some of them already; 1) and 2) are the easy ones for temporary strangenesses, and 3) and 4) are specifically aimed at possibly corrupt/inconvenient preferences); 5) is a list in itself, and 6) is the last resort.

If possible/applicable, you should save current artwork first, of course.

1) Close down Illy and open again;

2) Restart the computer (you may do that up to at least 5 times);

3) Close down Illy and press Ctrl+Alt+Shift/Cmd+Option+Shift during startup (easy but irreversible);

4) Move the folder (follow the link with that name) with Illy closed (more tedious but also more thorough and reversible), for CS3 - CC you may find the folder here:

https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/kb/preference-file-location-illustrator.html

5) Look through and try out the relevant among the Other options (follow the link with that name, Item 7) is a list of usual suspects among other applications that may disturb and confuse Illy, Item 15) applies to CC, CS6, and maybe CS5);

Even more seriously (this may be serious because you may need to restore plugins and whatnot afterwards if you have customized things), you may:

6) A) Uninstall (ticking the box to delete the preferences if applicable), B) run the Cleaner Tool (if you have CS3/CS4/CS5/CS6/CC), and C) reinstall. You may try without step B), but sometimes it is needed, because otherwise things may linger.

To uninstall:

https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/search/index.cfm?loc=en_us&term=uninstall&cat=support&product=illustra...

Cleaner Tool:

http://www.adobe.com/support/contact/cscleanertool.html

[KinkoStar]

Jacob Bugge and Monika Gause,

Thank you very much for your assistance. Sorry that I could not reply earlier. I am not good at using a computer, but with your help I hope I can solve the problem without a lot of difficulty.

My computer is a MacBook Pro (Early 2011). This is the first time I have had a problem like this, and I do not think it is related to the kind of computer being used. I will now explain how the problem started. I am very sorry that the explanation includes many steps. Also, I did not write down anything as the problem first occurred, so from just my memory there might be some key errors or omissions in my explanation.

The other day I wanted to study lesson 9 of Adobe Illustrator CS6 Classroom In a Book. I rotate study of this book with other Adobe books. Each time when I start to study the Illustrator book again, I drag the Illustrator icon from Applications to the dock to make it faster to open Illustrator (after I finish a lesson, I remove the icon from the dock). However, a few weeks ago, I dragged Applications to the dock to make it faster to open. So the other day, for the first time, I opened Applications from its icon on the dock (instead of from the Go menu) and then from there tried dragging the Illustrator icon to the dock. I do not know why, but the Illustrator icon did not appear on the dock. I thought it was maybe hidden behind something, so I hid the dock, but still could not see the Illustrator icon. Anyway, (I might have done something incorrectly), but for some reason the Illustrator icon had disappeared from Applications, in addition to not being visible on the dock. I could not open Illustrator and thought I had accidentally deleted it from my computer. But then I tried opening the Illustrator lessons from Bridge, which succeeded, but there was still no Illustrator icon in Applications. There was then an Illustrator icon on the dock because the program was open. I tried dragging that icon to the desktop to drag it into Applications, but it just sprung back to the dock. So to investigate other possibilities, I right clicked the icon on the dock, and clicked Show in Finder in Options to try to find another way to drag Illustrator to Applications. I cannot remember exactly what I did after that, but I was able to get Illustrator back into Applications. I thought the problem was over.

When I opened lesson 9 of the book, a dialog appeared telling me the

“path” or “alignment” had changed (cannot remember the word) and I had to click one of two choices (cannot remember the words for these), but I clicked the one that looked correct to me. When I opened the file L9end.ai, I got the following message: The document ‘L9end.ai’ contains elements that are managed by plug-ins that currently are not available. You can delete or expand these elements but you cannot manipulate them in other ways. The missing plug-ins are listed below. Adobe Perspective Plug in Group (Perspective.aip) Drop Shadow (Drop Shadow.aip) 3D Effect (3D.aip) OK

Later, for doing lesson 9, I had to rename the file L9start.ai. It could not be saved under the name. After closing the file and quitting Illustrator, and later trying to open Illustrator, I first got the message, Missing required plugins. PDF Format.aip OK, leading me to contact the forum for help.

Since your emails, I have deleted the preferences. This lets me open Illustrator files, but when I do I still get a message that there are plug-ins that currently are not available. By restoring the preferences, I can open an Illustrator file, but not use the file’s plug-ins. I opened the lesson 8 file I completed and like for lesson 9 plug-ins are not available. So I cannot use plug-ins. So far, I have not noticed other problems with Illustrator.

I hope providing this detailed explanation can lead to a solution that does not require me to delete and reinstall Illustrator. I live in Japan and bought Adobe Master Collection 6 from Adobe Japan. I think the software was initially installed using a link in an email sent to me long ago by Adobe Japan. It may be difficult for me to delete and reinstall through Adobe Japan because my Japanese communication skills may not be good enough to understand exactly what to do.

KinkoStar

[Monika Gause]

Dragging things in and out of the Application folder and its subfolders is not a good idea at all. Even more so when you're not experienced with using a computer.

You might have messed up something in that folder without noticing it.

I would recommend uninstalling Illustrator. Then run the Adobe Cleaner tool and reinstall.

Use the Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool to solve installation problems

When you're done installing, don't drag anything anywhere. Just launch Illustrator. It will then show up in the Dock. There you can click its icon and hold for the little menu to appear. In the menu select Options > Keep in Dock and leave it there for your convenience. Don't remove it.

[KinkoStar]

Monica,

Thank you very much for your advice. I would like to ask one more thing before uninstalling and reinstalling. As I wrote before, a dialog appeared telling me that the “path” or “alignment” (one of these two words if I recall correctly) had changed. I think the two choices were something like (1) restore the previous or (2) use the new. I chose use the new, but I was unsure about which one to choose. Do you think my choice may have caused the loss of the plug-ins?

KinkoStar

[Monika Gause]

Selecting the wrong option inside one of Illustrator's dialog boxes shouldn't give you a crash that leads to the loss/destruction of plugins/program modules.

Next time you get an irritating dialog box it would be good if you can take a screenshot of it. There are so many warnings in Illustrator that it's difficult to tell them apart by just a few words.

On the Mac: How to take a screenshot on your Mac - Apple Support

[Janette22313015vg2p]

I have joined up for 7 free days of Illustrator - on Day 2 now and still cannot open Illustrator.  I have a windows laptop and successfully downloaded creative cloud but cannot open illustrator - frustrated!  In the background it is trying to load plug-ins but never loads.  I need an extension firstly on my free trial and also assistance in opening illustrator.

[Janette22313015vg2p]

Update - I have shutdown, reinstalled also and it does not work.  No changes made to the system,

[Monika Gause]

Please contact Customer Care. They can login to your system: https://helpx.adobe.com/contact.html

[Anshul_Saini]

Hi @Janette22313015vg2p,

We are sorry about the trouble. I hope the issue is resolved by now. If not, I would suggest you try the steps suggested in this help article (https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/kb/plugin-missing-issue.html). We have consolidated the most popular solutions that help in fixing the loading/ missing plugin issue in that article. Let us know how it goes. 

Kindly update the discussion if you still need assistance with it. We'd be happy to help.

Thanks & Regards,

Anshul Saini