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"

[janh53600120]

same problem, same macbook

Illustrator /photoshop / indesign crashes constantly every day 

on activity monitor there are always more than 4GB RAM load even if Im not working on photoshop at all.

App is just open..

its more than horrible work nowadays

1hour call with apple care doesnt help

please hepl us!

[Srishti Bali]

Hi there,

Sorry about this. Did you try the steps shared above? Also, please do share the following information:

• OS and version of Illustrator/InDesign/ Photoshop.
• Screenshot of Activity Monitor.
• Graphic card installed on the machine.
• When did this start happening? Are there any recent changes made to your system? For example, any antivirus, system updates or web extensions installed recently.

I would also request if you could create a new thread and post all this information there. Issues mentioned above are specific to Illustrator. 

Regards,

Srishti

[Billy_By_The_Sea]

Hello all,

I have exact same problem.

macOS Catalina, brand new 16" MacBook Pro, latest Illustrator, unexpectedly quits on the regular. 

2.4 GHz 8-Core Intel Core i9

32 GB 2667 MHz DDR4

AMD Radeon Pro 5500M 8 GB

Intel UHD Graphics 630 1536 MB

Crashes randomly, seems to happen when I come back to illustrator screen after being in Photoshop or other programs, but it's mostly random, not linked to a specific task.

I feel all your pain, know you are not alone, let's hope they find the bug. It is frustrating to have a new computer and working slower.

Hanging in there!

BC

[HosoTran]

Lets keep this going for them to find a real solution instead of trying to
kill our 4k machines...

[HosoTran]

Any update ? I have tried everything and no solution was found...

[Monika Gause]

What exactly did you try?

Which version exactly is it?

When exactly is it crashing?

If you don't want self help, you can try Customer Care:

Please contact Customer Care: http://helpx.adobe.com/contact.html

[HosoTran]

I already have a case opened... it is almost a month since all my crashes and nothign is found yet.

Latest Catalina and latest Illustrator as of now.

[Monika Gause]

Have you tried and created a new user on the computer (Admin)?

Are all plugins compatible?

All fonts checked?

Does Illustrator have full disk access?

Is a printer connected and turned on?

[Grupet_69]

COME ON ADOBE! WAKE THE F*CK UP AND DO SOMETHING!

This is unactable and getting impossible to run a business like this.

Get the issue fixed NOW!!!!

Crashes 6-8 times a day and I sent in crash reports every single time and I haven't heard anything from anybody at Adobe.

Do something about this! NOW!

[Monika Gause]

Crash reports are no meand of getting support.

If you want one on one support, Please contact Customer Care: http://helpx.adobe.com/contact.html 

They can log into your system.

[Grupet_69]

YEah, great! 

I can spend 2 hours with somebody from India that tells me to unistall and install Illustrator, which I've done 3-4-5 times now. Mess around with my computer and f#ck up all my settings just to let me know that they can't see anything wrong and everyting is working perfectly. Great!!!

Obversely there is something wrong with Illustrator, since so many of us with the new Macbook pro have this problem. It's not an issue that can be fixed remotely from India....!

[Monika Gause]

Did you try the following:

- turn off the dictation in the system

- give Illustrator full disk access in the system

- turn off the save in background, export in background, speed up network save options in Preferences > Clipboard & File Handling

- checked all your fonts

- reset the Illustrator preferences

- install a printer (and attach it and turn it on)

- uninstall all third party plugins

[Grupet_69]

Yes, I have done all that, except I'm not sure what you mean about "Checked all your fonts"?

Everything else I have done and I hasn't helped at all.

Today has been really bad... at 10:30am it had crashed 6 times already and I'm getting REALLY frustrated. I have a long day ahead of me and this issues is only making my work day longer than it's suppose to.

[Monika Gause]

Let Fontbook run a check on your fonts.

Can you also try and boot into Safe Mode and then start Illustrator?

[joshb19838288]

Hey dude... did you ever end up finding a fix? I'm dealing with the exact same thing, on a 2020 16' MAXED OUT MacBook pro. How is such a persistent error not dealt with yet, Adobe?!

[Billy_By_The_Sea]

Hello,

I have the same gear, problem started the day I upgraded everything and has not stopped. Adobe recomended that I turn off an option dealing with my graphics card (AMD) which has NOT done a thing. Still crashing, I've spent so much time looking for answers online. We all have our regular work to do, I feel your pain on this.

[Monika Gause]

Someone has to take a look into your system, because this works well on other systems. It's just the Macbook Pro 16" that pops up in this kinds of threads over and over again.

Please contact Customer Care https://helpx.adobe.com/contact.html

[jusroy]

Hey. The only solution that's worked for my 16 in MBP is to turn off the GPU performance function in Illustrator preferences (as per screeenshot below). On every update that's been released since I first commented on this thread, I've tried reactivating this function and the crashing continues to happen. Turning it off resolves the issue completely (at least for me). Obviously, it's not an ideal solution but until Adobe decides to address the actual problem with this function, it's the best we can do...

[kilianp29643731]

CPU prevents Illustrator from crashing on my MacBook Pro 16 inch, this is true, but the performance got so slow that I could hardly work with the program. By the way, as I type I followed Monika’s advice to contact customer support, they have no clue what to do, and they know about this thread. I just installed a pre-release of Illustrator, but I doubt it will help. Keep you posted.

[dgotschall1]

What inititally worked for me was allowing Illustrator full disk access in System Prefs/Security & Privacy/Full Disk Access. This seemed to work for a few months while allowing me to keep GPU performance enabled (which makes the program run MUCH faster). But with the recent roll out of Illustrator 2020, it began crashing again ALL. THE. TIME. So I rolled back to the 2019 version, but it continued to happen (and I couldn't open some of my EPS 2020 files any longer). SOOOO, I went BACK to the 2020 version, and disabled the GPU performance. Which seems to help, but it's definitely still crashing. I also remember reading something about Avast Security messing with it (tho I don't know why) which I do have installed. Dying for a REAL fix for this that allows GPU performance. What's the point of having the top of the line macbook if you can't use a large chunk of what you are paying for in performance?

[joshb19838288]

@dgotschall1 I totally sympathize here... I was SO stoked to get my brand new 16" macbook pro up and running, and it's laughable and downright embarrassing that such a HUGE problem hasn't been fixed yet. After closely following this thread, reading Adobe reps responses + other customer issues, I'm convinced this will never be solved (in the Illustrator 2020 version at least). The fix I'm talking about would let us use the powerful graphics card that we all paid extra for.

Adobe, are you listening?? Do you hear us 16" users?? HELP! PLEASE!

[Grupet_69]

I started this thread back in December 2019 and I still have the same issue. Illustrator crashes 5-6-7-8 times a day. If I shut off GPU performance it will make Illustrator so slow and unbarrable to work with that it's not worth it, so I have to live with the crashes. So it's now been going on for over 8 months. 8 months and still NOTHING from Adobe. 

There is not pattern. It crashes sometimes when I'm using other software and then go back to Illustrator. It crashes sometimes when waking my Macbook from sleep. It crashes a lot when moving objects around the artboard. It crashes sometimes when I hit "Save". It crashes sometimes when using the text tool. It crashes a lot just randomly. It's just unbelivable that they can't fix this issue. Over 8 months and still nothing. Every time they come out with an update, I go, YES, this gotta be it, but NO, no fixes.....

[joshb19838288]

Yup - the crash scenarios you explain happen to me 6-8 times per day as well. You are not alone buddy, it’s the same thing I’ve been dealing with since the second I upgraded. -_-

[SWRL157]

Same frustrations here.  16" book with Catalina 10.15.3 and illustrator 24.0.3.  no plug-ins.  I save to a harddrive folder that is linked to dropbox.  And recently Carbonite. Same type random crashes when i move to another program or just look away.  AND my desktop setup preferences reset when i open it up.  My Indesign is doing the same thing too.  Just random crashes.  Photoshop is still functioning.  all reports are sent to Adobe. I'm following this thread like the rest of the frustrated just to find out what the outcome will be.  Been working thru the suggestion by @monika_gause and appreciate the dart throwing but, wow.  My favorite thing that has happened is that NOW my illustrator display has gone lorez.  looks to be 32 or 64-bit video gamish.  That's awesome.

whoops.... scratch that.  obviously I fat fingered some VIEW setting.  

[Srishti Bali]

Hi there,

So sorry to hear that you are facing multiple issues with Illustrator. 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.

Regards!