Illustrator 2020 keeps crashing on macOS Catalina

[Grupet_69]

So, I just got my new 16" Macbook, i9 processor with 64gb Ram.

Only problem is that Ilustrator now keeps crashing. I don't have any issues with my old 2015 Macbook, or my iMac 5K, only with my new 16" Macbook. Only Illustrator crashes, and it happens at least 4-5 times during a day. No pattern. Latest version of Illustrator and lates version of MacOS.

I finally found a solution. It was another user who wrote me a message with a solution that at least worked for me.

I haven't had a crash in 2 days now.

Preference > Performance > uncheck "GPU Performance"

[Grupet_69]

I finally found a solution. It was another user who wrote me a PM with the solution and so far it's working.

I haven't had a crash in 2 days now.

Preference > Performance > uncheck "GPU Performance"

That simple!

2 Months of 6-7-8 crashes every day and that little trick fixed it.

Really Adobe, you couldn't come up with that????

[Macario]

WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? THIS AWSER IS FAKE NEWS. STOP POSTING MISILEADUING INFORMATION. NO ONE IS GOING TO TURN OFF THEIR GPU TO FIX THIS ISSUE. STOP MISLEADING PEOPLE. ADOBE NEEDS TO FIX THIS ISSUE NOW!!!

[Srishti Bali · Accepted solution]

Hi there,

We are extremely sorry to hear this. Turning off GPU performance might have worked for them but not for you. Looking at the crash report you submitted on 5th March, it looks like an GPU issue but there could be other factors too. It looks like one-on-one support will be able to help you best. Please head here (https://helpx.adobe.com/support.html) and select the chat button in the lower-right corner of the page. We can help troubleshoot faster that way.

Thanks!

[Macario]

I have the same issue here with  new 16" Macbook. please help! I don't want to turn off the GPU either. 

[Srishti Bali]

Hi Macario,

Sorry about this. Try disabling Automatic GPU Switching and let us know how it goes.

• Go to the  Apple menu and choose “System Preferences” and then go to “Energy” control panel.
• Uncheck the box next to “Automatic graphics switching”.
  

Regards!

[johnnymac77]

Same here - 16" MacBook pro crashes constantly with Photoshop / Illustrator and InDesign. I have tried everything, including reinstalling all three. Now I will try the above method and see how it goes...

[Billy_By_The_Sea]

Hello,

I am posting this comment because I have noticed that my crashes do not happen during any particular action. I've been tracking my crashes and they seem to happen when my machine is waking from sleep or screen saver mode.  Does anyone elese note this? Is there a specific action that you are doing when the crash happens? Hope this note helps.

[HosoTran]

There is no specific action, I believe it has something to do with the dual-gpu we all have in the 16inch.

[Billy_By_The_Sea]

Agree. I have turned off "automatic graphic switching" in the system preferences to see if this has an affect. So far nothing recomended has worked. I will stay posted.

[Macario]

That's not the correct answer – that's very misleading. Please remove this suggestion NOW!

[Andy Swift]

Your response is in the general thread… it's not clear which answer you are referring to.

[Macario]

Correct answer given by Adobe is false: 

I finally found a solution. It was another user who wrote me a PM with the solution and so far it's working.

I haven't had a crash in 2 days now.

Preference > Performance > uncheck "GPU Performance"

That simple!

2 Months of 6-7-8 crashes every day and that little trick fixed it.

Really Adobe, you couldn't come up with that????

[Monika Gause]

"Correct answer given by Adobe is false: "

The answer has been marked as correct by the thread opener themselves (and given by them).

If it doesn't solve your issue, then please describe your issue.

[Billy_By_The_Sea]

Macario,

I AGREE, it's frustrating to get this answer over and over and it does NOT solve the problem. However, have you noticed any particular action you are doing in Illustrator when the crash happens? I have noticed that my crashes seen to happen when I leave illustrator and come back only to find its crashed. Does this happen for you?

[HosoTran]

Thats the dumbest solution ever... Buying a 4000$ laptop t deactivate the videocard...
Adobe is becoming a real joke with their outsourced customer services...

Those one-on-one solutions are so bad, they just change every privileges in your computer and are not even sure if it is working.

[Danny Whitehead.]

Looks to me like Srishti's suggestion is more or less the opposite - it stops OSX from disabling the GPU's performance,.

Not that I would defend PMed solutions, or the increase in poor advice from people actually employed by Adobe.

IMHO, GPU Performance still isn't ready for public release, not that the Illustrator dev team would let a little thing like that stand in their way!

[johnnymac77]

The fact is, we are all beta testing the MacBook Pro 16" for Adobe. Obviously the new navi GPUs in Catalina weren't ready for Adobe.

[felipec25419617]

Same problem here on new Macbook pro 16"

I have already contact Adobe via chat and they are trying to solve.

I'm having another problem that my files is performing very bad (copy and paste gets really slow)

[HNMSC]

Same issue here.

MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019)

2.4 GHz 8-Core Intel Core i9

64 GB 2667 MHz DDR4

AMD Radeon Pro 5500M 8 GB

Intel UHD Graphics 630 1536 MB

As a professional this is exremely frustrating, losing time over crashes and lost work. PLEASE FIX ASAP!

[jusroy]

I've been suffering with this issue ever since upgrading to my MBP 16" (as soon as they were released). Identical specs as above.

MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019)

2.4 GHz 8-Core Intel Core i9

64 GB 2667 MHz DDR4

AMD Radeon Pro 5500M 8 GB

Intel UHD Graphics 630 1536 MB

Most (certianly not all) of my crashes happen when I'm not even using the computer. I'll wake it up in the morning to be greeted with the message that Illustrator unexpectedly quit. There's not one day that goes by that I don't have Illustrator quit on me. I kid you not, my recent files list is still empty to this day as I've never purposely quit Illustrator. I've tried everything suggested within this thread and the problem persists. Adobe needs to actually address the issue within the software. Worst of all, I've stopped even bothering to send the crash reports by clicking the 'don't send - don't ask again' button but it still bloody asks me to send the crash report each time. In other words, the crash report buttons don't even work properly. What a mess. I never experience these issues with my Mid-2014 MBP 15" with CC 2018. That set-up was solid. Unfortunately I find that I'm actually less productive with this new set-up. Every time I see an AI update available in the CC app I hope & pray that they've resolved this issue. May 2020 and it's still poopy.

[HNMSC]

Hi,

I've found the temp solution is to turn off GPU Performance under Preferences and Automatic Graphics Switching in the Energy Saver section of macOS system preferences.

Would be nice to be about to use the GPU in this expensive laptop however ADOBE!

Thnaks & have a great weekend.

[jusroy]

Thank you for the suggestion. I too will reluctantly turn those off as a 'temporary' solution. Cheers.

[damienzNOMAD]

I don't have a solution, but I have a 16" MBP and I am having these EXACT SAME PROBLEMS. It's unbelievable how aparent it is a hardware issue. My 2018 MBP running the exact same software with the exact same version has never crashed like this does.

Without fail it will crash when put to sleep and occasionally while idlying. But it always crashes. Always.

[Srishti Bali]

Hi there,

We're extremely sorry about the trouble you are facing with current version of Illustrator. We're currently investigating this issue. 

I would request if you could upvote this issue here (https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447-illustrator-bugs/suggestions/39578656-random-crashin...) and share your feedback and following details in the comments.

• Exact version of Illustrator you are working on.

• Submit Crash report (https://helpx.adobe.com/in/illustrator/kb/crash-next-steps.html )
  While submitting the crash report please use the same email address, with which you are signed in on this community. This will help us find the crash report and help accordingly.

• SPX file from MAC
  Click on Apple Icon > About this Mac > System Report
  This will launch the System Profiler
  Then Click File > Save > Save in Creative Cloud Files
  Then open www.assets.adobe.com
  Click on three dots next to spx file > Share > Copy Link and share it on Uservoice page.

• Preferences Folder: -
  Try resetting preferences. If it helps to resolve the problem, share the old folders via Creative Cloud.
  Close all Adobe applications.
  Go to locations
  

  ~/Library/Caches

  ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe

  ~/Library/Preferences

  Rename Adobe Illustrator, com.adobe.illustrator and Adobe Illustrator 24 Settings folders to Adobe Illustrator.old, com.adobe.illustrator.old and Adobe Illustrator 24 Settings.old

  Launch Illustrator from the Creative Cloud.

  Please note that resetting preferences will remove all the custom settings and Illustrator will launch with default settings. This way all your old settings will be saved in .old folders and Illustrator will recreate new folders with default settings. Save these .old folders in Creative Cloud Files and share the download link

• Also, check how it works if you change the color preferences to Apple RGB in the display settings (https://support.apple.com/en-in/guide/mac-help/mchlf3ddc60d/mac).

This will help in replicating this issue at our end and resolve this in upcoming releases.

[janh53600120]

Hello all,

If Im not wrong, we are talking about MBP 16" crashing,

this is maybe problem of Apple, please all-

look at this forum where lot of things are told:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250905859

30.000 people have already seen this threat

I guess its not Adobe issue, ciao!