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betawaxx
Participant
October 24, 2020
Answered

Illustrator 2021 "Create new " broken? No blank document presets.

  • October 24, 2020
  • 8 replies
  • 9707 views

Anyone got a fix for this other than using the legacy interface? All document presets gone A4 etc, replaced with stock templates, same on all tabs?

Correct answer Srishti Bali

Hi @adelevarris

 

I understand your frustration.  If the suggested fixes don’t work, you don’t have to try them again, but we have to try them once to find the root cause of the issue. The blank screen issue has been reported across different versions for various reasons.

For now, please try the following steps and see if they help:

  1. Close all Adobe applications.
  2. Navigate to the following folder location and rename the UXP folder to UXP.old:
    • Windows: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\UXP
    • macOS: Macintosh HD/Library/Application Support/Adobe/UXP
  3. Relaunch Illustrator.

Let us know if this resolves the issue!

 

Regards,

Srishti

8 replies

adelevarris
Participant
March 24, 2025

Same issue here. I won't bother with the fixes if they don't work. Will we be informed when the fix is completed?

Srishti Bali
Community Manager
Srishti BaliCommunity ManagerCorrect answer
Community Manager
March 24, 2025

Hi @adelevarris

 

I understand your frustration.  If the suggested fixes don’t work, you don’t have to try them again, but we have to try them once to find the root cause of the issue. The blank screen issue has been reported across different versions for various reasons.

For now, please try the following steps and see if they help:

  1. Close all Adobe applications.
  2. Navigate to the following folder location and rename the UXP folder to UXP.old:
    • Windows: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\UXP
    • macOS: Macintosh HD/Library/Application Support/Adobe/UXP
  3. Relaunch Illustrator.

Let us know if this resolves the issue!

 

Regards,

Srishti

Participant
May 1, 2025

Thank you, Sarishti! Your fix worked for me!

hekselsior
Known Participant
October 21, 2023

I got the same problem with 28.0 version.

Resetting Preferences does not work.

But uninstalling the Illustrator works.

Participant
May 24, 2021

Having the same problem here, and from the looks of it, it's an issue that still hasn't been fixed since October 2020, at least. I just started an online Illustrator course and am stumbling two minutes in because I have to mess around getting some blank templates back.

 

I downloaded Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign all at the same time (beginning of May), and did not have this problem with the other two programmes.

Participant
May 24, 2021

EDIT: I was looking under 'Print' and there were no blanks, but but managed to find waht I wanted -- A4/letter -- under 'Art & Illustration' (?). Problem 'solved', but not intuitive. My first point of call would be 'Print' for things that I'd associate with printing --  espectially if you're a newbie like me -- but paper sizes doesn't exactly fit the 'Art & Illustration' category. Might want to take this organisation model back to your UX designers. 

Participant
June 7, 2021

Thank-you Victoria, your post helped save me some frustrating steps of uninstalling/reinstalling today.

Known Participant
May 21, 2021

Has this seriously not been fixed yet? We have to delete all out illustrator settings just to CREATE A NEW BLACK DOCUMENT!

Participating Frequently
August 4, 2022

2022 and this is still not resolved... truly incredible.

Tommylongboarder
Participant
January 20, 2021

Thanks @betawaxx this worked great for me. Shame about all my settings though Adobe!!
Nice to See @Ashutosh_Mishra or Adobe rep followed up on this… I would have thought in 3 months they would have rolled out a fix for a what is clearly bug and one that could be easily resolved! 

Participant
November 11, 2020

Exactly the same issue here. Fresh computer, fresh install of CC and I can create an empty blank document in Illustrator.

If this is intentional by Adobe, then the really haven't thought it through. 

betawaxx
betawaxxAuthor
Participant
November 11, 2020

Hey I managed to fix this by uninstalling AI on the CC app and telling it not to remember my settings then re-installing

 
Hope this works for everyone else 

Participant
November 12, 2020

Thank you! This worked for me too!

Participating Frequently
November 9, 2020

I am having the same issue on a brand new Windows box, only a week old. I recently installed latest version of Adobe Illustrator and Windows is uptodate. No options for creating a simple blank new document. Only choices are downloading a template.

 

The workaround I found is to click the box "Use legacy new file" in general preferences.

This is only a temporary solution as it elminates access to the templates until you turn it off in preferences. Obviously something is broken somewhere or there is some other preference? Based on screen shots and tutorials there is suppose to be a row of blank choices at the top of the new document window that is missing.

Ashutosh_Mishra
Inspiring
October 24, 2020

Hi there,

 

Sorry to hear about your experience. Would you mind sharing the version of the OS?

Please try resetting preferences of the app & see how it goes. You may follow the instructions below to do that:

  • Close all Adobe applications. 
  • Go to locations 
  • ~/Library/Caches 
  • ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe 
  • ~/Library/Preferences 
  • Rename Adobe Illustrator, com.adobe.illustrator and Adobe Illustrator 25 Settings folders to Adobe Illustrator.old, com.adobe.illustrator.old and Adobe Illustrator 25 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.

Let us know how it goes.

 

Regards,

Ashutosh

betawaxx
betawaxxAuthor
Participant
October 24, 2020

Neither of these worked I'm afraid!
Still no 'Blank Templates' to be found..
Here are my system specs: