Illustrator 2021 crashing while saving the files

[armiller197]

Hi everyone! I have been having difficulties saving my work without Illustrator crashing!! The files I am working with are rather large. I proceed to save the document per usual after choosing my location of save and selecting OK, after selecting OK I get the colorful splinning wheel and the program crashes.

I deleted all the layers that are not needed to hopefully bring down the file size, I do not have auto save or auto recovery on to save RAM. This issue has mainly occured on Illustrator 2020, I am working with older files that will not open properly on Illustrator 2021. 

Your help will be greatly appreciated!

{Renamed by MOD}

[J E L]

@armiller197 So sorry to hear about this and hopefully we'll give you some help to get things sorted out. Can you let us know your operating system and exact version of Illustrator that you've tried this on, including the 2020 version? How much RAM does your system have? Have you tried this yet with the latest version? (for Windows it's v.25.4.1). Also, what can you tell us about the older files that won't open properly in 2021 versions? Are you not able to convert these files permanently so you don't have to switch back and forth? You mentioned the files are rather large. How large is that? More than 100MB files? Would you be able to share one of them via Dropbox or similar and giving us a link here so we can test opening and saving them? Are there preference settings you've reset or tried to change to see if you can stop crashing? Any other system or optimization troubleshooting you've tried? If you are on a Mac, here are the steps to take: Improve Illustrator performance on macOS (adobe.com) and the one for Windows is here: Improve Illustrator performance on Windows (adobe.com).

[armiller197]

Hi Jain, 

• macOS Big Sur 11.5.2
• The issue is occuring on Illustrator v24.3, I am unable to open the files on Illustrator 25.4.1 as the file can only partially be read and opens incorrectly. I have not tried converting the files.
• RAM 16GB
• File size 786.2 MB
• I can share the file I am currently experiencing the issue with but it is not necessarily a single file related issue, some files will save fine and others will not. 
• I have reset Illustrator preferences, I have even changed the secondary scratch disk location to the hard drive, it fixed the issue for the project I was having an issue with at the time but I have since moved onto a new project and the previous method is not working. 
• I did notice some recovery files in my trash can that I did not place there but there is nothing within these files except the temp files, I also looked into the crash report and noticed KERN_PROTECTION_FAILURE and code 9 - " If the error code 9 is caused by corrupted/missing system files, performing a reinstall of Mac OS can be a quick fix for the problems resulting from a damaged operating system."

[J E L]

Hi @armiller197 wow, okay. Thanks for all of this. Yes, that is a fairly large file size. Seems as if you've narrowed the issue down to your OS and not Illustrator with the crash report. At least you are able to work with some of the files successfully. What do you think about reinstalling your OS? I imagine you want to carefully plan it out to make sure it doesn't cause headaches elsewhere. Perhaps you might try booting up into safe mode first to see if you can open and save the problem file as a test? Please keep us posted. How to use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support

[Monika Gause]

Exactly where are you saving your files?

[armiller197]

The documents folder on my MacBook.

[Anshul_Saini]

Hi there,

Sorry about the crashing. I know that's really frustrating. I would like to know if the steps suggested above by @J E L worked for you? If not, I would request you to share a few more details along with the ones asked by @Monika Gause and @J E L:

• Share crash logs by following these steps: 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. 
• Is the issue related to a specific document? If yes, could you please share the document with us? You can upload it to the Creative Cloud (https://helpx.adobe.com/in/creative-cloud/help/share.html) and share the download link. 
• Does resetting Illustrator Preferences (https://helpx.adobe.com/in/illustrator/using/setting-preferences.html) help to resolve the issue?
  Please note that all the custom settings would reset too. You can also take a backup of the folders in case you want to. Location is mentioned in the article.
  

We’re here to help. We just need more information.

Regards,

Anshul Saini

[Anshul_Saini]

Hi @armiller197,

Thank you for sharing the details. I would like to know if reinstalling the macOS has resolved the issue, or are you able to save your file in Safe Mode as suggested by @J E L?

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

Thanks & Regards,

Anshul Saini