Flickering cursor in illustrator

[JOR_G]

Does anyone know how to fix this issue; when I open illustrator, my cursor starts flickering and I can't click any options or can't go to preferences... I experience this problem also in photoshop, but only when it has problems exporting a file. Here is a link to a youtube upload of a screenrecording i just made, maybe it helps visualising the problem: https://youtu.be/A1E3JkHBgyw 

[Srishti Bali]

Hi there,

Sorry about this trouble. Please press CRTL+E (toggling GPU/CPU preview) and let us know if that helps resolving this issue.

Regards,

Srishti

[JOR_G]

Hi,

For me it does not work... i also uninstalled the program and reinstalled it as an older version but the problem remains. at the moment I'm trying to do my work in photoshop but it is really frustrating because I need illustrator.

[JOR_G · Accepted solution]

Hi,

So, apparently I just solved the problem... I just uninstalled illustrator from my E: disc (storage disc) and reinstalled it on my C: disc (system disc). Now the problem is solved, but can someone explain to me why there are problems of I install it on my storage disc's? I would rather install it on my storage disc to safe space on de system disc. I work on windows, if this helps.

Thanks in advance,

Jorre

[BambooStudios]

Thank you! This does resolve it as it arises on occasion. It would be nice to see Adobe actually fix the cause however as this shouldn't be necessary.

regards,

Jacob

[moellerart]

I habe the same problem:

If there is one document open in psd, the cursor flickers in different other programs – it changes its form from the tool to the normal MAC cursor very quickly. This problem occurs ind indd, illustrator, safari, mail eg. when i close all doks in psd the problem is gone. BUT: I´m workin parallel with all programs, interactive, so i cant always close documents to erase this problem.

Please Adobe fix this problem – in my opinion the problem is bases partially to the tool settings in PSD!

iMac (Retina 5K, 27", 2020) 3,6 GHz 10-Core Intel Core i9, Catalina, Adobe CC latest, AMD Radeon Pro 5700 XT 16 GB

[3scoops_]

My cursor will not maintain rotation symbol or any other when hovering near anchor points. i.e. when I go to rotate a line, the cursor flickers from the pointer to the rotation symbol, making it difficult to see what I will grab once I click.

[Stackola]

same

[BillC]

Latest upgrade to Sonoma and this issue has actually got worse. The flickering occurs in every Adobe app - particularly bad in Photoshop now (Photoshop wasn't really affected when this bug first arrived many, many years ago).

It seriously affects my workflow as I keep having to close files and restart the computer to fix it. It goes away for a while then returns usually after interaction between programs - e.g. copying and pasting something from Illustrator into Photoshop or visa-versa... but not always so it's difficult to discern the cause.

The bug has been reported many times over the years to both Adobe and Apple but for whatever reason no attempt has been made to fix it. Many people have reported it over the years so surely it can be replicated by Apple or Adobe technicians.

----------------

Mac Pro 2019 3.3 GHz 12-Core Intel Xeon W

AMD Radeon Pro 580X 8GB

160GB 2933 MHz DDR4

BenQ PD3200U Display 32-inch (3840x2160)

[Anubhav Majumder]

Hello @BillC,

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

[BillC]

Hi Anubhav,

Thanks for getting back to me and apologies for the late reply.

None of the suggestions work I'm afraid, I've actually tried everything that's been suggested online over the past 8 or more years that this bug has been affecting Adobe apps. 

To be honest I've just been trying to live with it up until now... as it's much worse than ever. Closing or hiding Photoshop worked in the past as a temporary (very inconvenient) fix but now nothing works apart from restarting the computer. This fixes it for a while but then it returns for no apparent reason.

I've attached a screen recording but I'm sure you'll have seen many other recordings from others who have the same issue.

I did find this link on MacRumors: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/weird-cursor-behavior.2230749/post-28968427

This suggests changes to system files which I'm not comfortable in attempting but maybe it will give you a steer towards a fix?

Thanks,

Bill

[Anshul_Saini]

@BillC, thanks for sharing your experience & screen recording. It seems like you've tried various troubleshooting steps already. Regarding the link you shared, the changes mentioned are related to macOS cursor behavior and will not help us address the flickering cursor issue in Illustrator. We recommend testing under the Mac Safe Mode and opening apps one by one to identify any third-party apps causing the flickering. Let us know after opening which app it starts flickering so we can let our engineers know about this, and they can test at their end as this issue is not reproducible at our end.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Best,

Anshul Saini

[BillC]

Hi Anshul,

The longer this goes on I am beginning to think the problem is primarily an Apple issue. Since updating to Sonoma - Photoshop is pretty much unuseable as the flickering starts very soon after opening the program. As I mentioned earlier, Photoshop has been relatively clear of the bug until now. In Photoshop prefs I have Painting Cursors set to 'Normal Brush Tip' and Other Cursors set to 'Precise', and I do notice that it starts after changing a brush size - worst offenders being the rubber stamp and paint brush. You can appreciate how awful it is trying to work when one of these is flickering between a large radius brush and a small pointer for example. 

Back to Sonoma - since the upgrade many more non-Adobe apps are affected including all the Microsoft apps. It usually starts when working with an Adobe app - probably because there are so many cursor shapes - but once it starts it seems to "infect" other apps - including some Apple apps e.g. Mail. Overall Sonoma is very buggy and I'll report to Apple on this.

When I get a spare day I will experiment in Safe Mode as you suggest and report back... I would love to get to the bottom of this as it is seriously affecting my workflow.

Thanks again,

Bill

[Anshul_Saini]

Thank you for sharing your insights and experiences with us, @BillC. It sounds like you're encountering quite a frustrating issue with Photoshop and the flickering problem, especially after updating to Sonoma. It's concerning to hear that the problem seems to be spreading to other non-Adobe and even Apple apps.

Your willingness to experiment in Safe Mode and report back is greatly appreciated. It may help us narrow down the root cause of the issue and find a solution.

In the meantime, if you have any other observations or questions, please feel free to share them. We're here to assist you as best as we can.

Best regards,

Anshul