Illustrator artwork/objects disappearing on Mac

[AtomCreativeMedia]

Hi all,

I'm using Illustrator CC on my MacBook Pro Retina (2015), running Sierra. Processor is 2.2GHz with Intel Core i7 and I have 16GB of RAM.

Often when using Illustrator (in fact very often, after around 50% of my actions), objects and artwork will be "cut off" and disappear from view, seemingly invisible. This most commonly occurs when I'm zoomed in on an object or group, perform some action, and then zoom out again; when I zoom out, any object that was outside the boundaries of my screen will become invisible.

An example:

I have a few groups of objects scattered around my artboard. I zoom in on one group, leaving the other groups partially out of view. I isolate my intended group, and make some adjustments to the objects in that group. I then exit isolation mode for that group, and zoom out.

Now any objects that were outside of the boundaries of my screen when zoomed in are not showing. In order to get them to show again I must zoom in or out a few times and scroll the screen left or right a bit to shake it out of this weird issue. The invisible objects will then reappear.

It doesn't matter if the missing objects were in a group or ungrouped or anything like that - as long as the object was out of view then it will disappear when I zoom out again. The objects are still there - they just can't be seen. If I cmd+A then I can see the object outlines.

As you can imagine, this has a huge impact on my workflow, having to constantly "shake the artboard around" in order to see all of my work. I never had this issue when I used Illustrator on a Windows OS - only since I got my MacBook. My machine has fairly good specs (see above) and I'm sure it should be able to handle Illustrator without these weird graphical performance issues. It doesn't seem to matter which version of Illustrator or which macOS I'm running; I've always had this issue since I first bought it.

Has anybody else experienced this problem, or does anybody have some advice as to what it could be and how I can resolve it?

Many thanks in advance. Let me know if you need more information.

[AtomCreativeMedia]

Chris-911  wrote

I tested this thoroughly and came to a conclusion. The only time that the artwork will be missing is when you use the pinch to zoom on your trackpad or possibly on your Wacom tablets. If I use the normal zoom (cmd+spacebar+left click and drag) on my mac it never does that. If I start using the pinch to zoom on my trackpad either on my late 2013 Macbook pro or my 2014 iMac 5K dislpay, it starts to act up again. Since I've been using the (cmd+space bar) shortcut I never had this issue. It would be fun if Adobe could fix this issue with the track pad cause it would be very convenient to use it in this way.

This is the closest we've come to being able to localise the problem. I'd put it down to an Adobe issue, in that they need to fix their apps to be compatible with the hardware (i.e. the trackpad). It's pretty major hardware too, not something obscure or little-used.

At least we know that it's not something that we can fix ourselves, and it's in the hands of The Big A. Let's hope they pull their finger out however I have a feeling we shouldn't hold our breath. Shame, since we're spending no small amount of cash on these products and services.

Marking Chris's answer as the correct one. Thanks everybody for getting involved.

Peace out!

[nigelholderby]

Well, I'm having this issue as well on a MBP with the following specs:

Retina 15", Mid 2015

Intel 2.8GHz Core i7

16GB DDR3 RAM

Intel Iris Pro 1536MB

AMD Radeon R9 M370X

Mac OS Sierra 10.12.5

Also, Illustrator CC has been updated to the latest version.

I'm trying to do a logo for a friend, and this is driving me bonkers! As Chris-911 mentioned above, it does seem to happen while I'm using pinch to zoom on my trackpad. I do that a lot while doing work like this, zooming in and out a lot to get a detailed view of things. Bits and pieces of my work randomly disappear, and only saving, quitting Illustrator, and then restarting it brings it back temporarily.

I'm going to zoom via other means until a fix is issued.

[timeasley]

I'm having the exact same problem on my 2017 model MBP. Real annoying since I use the pinch zoom A LOT while working.

[agilitation_romain]

Same here on two different MBP. Both have Radeon graphic cards.

Have to hit command-E twice to make the graphics appear.

[AtomCreativeMedia]

Nice find, Chris-911​, it never occurred to me that the trackpad might be part of the issue. I just tried it using my trackpad, and then my magic mouse and you're right - no problem using the mouse.

Still don't know if I'd call this an Apple issue or an Adobe issue. Is it hardware or software? This could suggest however that it's nothing to do with graphics cards, right? Or no?

Either way at least this is something to go on. Good tip from agilitation_romain​, hitting CMD+E twice. Up till now I was just zooming in and out and panning left and right a few times to get all my objects back.

[Guest]

If you pull down the "View" across the top and go to GPU Preview, click on that, it allows the view of the whole dartboard to be viewed at various sizes zooming in and out.

[naxchielic7356205]

Hi guys!

I just want to say that my English it is not perfect, so I will try to explain myself the best I can.

I have been reading, and I have the same issue than all of you, It is not a problem with the computer, it is a problem with Adobe, and as you say it is really annoying. One thing that works for me in order to solve the problem is to replace the file that it is disappearing for the original file again, this new file will do the same movements than the file you replace. I know to do this can be annoying, especially if there are a lot of files or objects, but it is the only thing that worked for me.

Hope this could help you 

[AtomCreativeMedia]

I don't know about anybody else here but since the latest update (Oct 18th, V20.0.0) I'm not seeing this problem any more, and can't replicate it using any of the usual "triggers".

Hopefully this is fixed now! Anybody else seeing improvements since the update?

[bethamania8]

I just updated my 2017 MacBook Pro 13-inch to Sierra and now I am experiencing these issues. I do not use a trackpad, or tablet. So, I am confused why this is happening to me....

[markl5583850]

This is still happening to me after this update. I Upgraded to high Sierra, unsure why it has been happening, but wow is it annoying

[jcruz11@me.com]

I THINK I FIGURED IT OUT JUST NOW!!!!  If you go to your view menu and select" preview on CPU".  instead of GPU it instantly fixes it!    

[rosies79021145]

Thanks! Fixed it for me.

[Ankit5C8F]

thanks worked for me

[jcruz11@me.com]

I THINK I FIGURED IT OUT JUST NOW!!!!  If you go to your view menu and select" preview on CPU".  instead of GPU it instantly fixes it!    

[sofiaruizu]

Oh my god you're a GENIOUS!!!!! changed my life.

[joannaf86202484]

Thank you so much !! It was really helpfull!!!

You are G!!!

[peterc5088498]

Hi. I experienced the same problem, but remedied the situation by turning off GPU in the performance settings (under Preferences)

[defaultjn5qpo466ax9]

If "smart guides" are turned on I continually have this issue you're referring to. Once I turn those off the issue goes away. If you don't want to turn smart guides off then doing a quick zoom in and back out with cmd + and cmp - restores the missing graphics for me...or scolling the artboard off screen for a second and then back into view.

[quratulainkhaliq]

what i noticed about this problem is that if usually happend when you work with multiple document modes in a single file. 

Just change the document mode to "RGB" and it will work fine.

[Monika Gause]

what i noticed about this problem is that if usually happend when you work with multiple document modes in a single file. 

Just change the document mode to "RGB" and it will work fine.

By @quratulainkhaliq

Illustrator documents can only be one document color mode.

Changing back and forth between them will wreck your colors every single time.

And going from CMYK to RGB is counterproductive most of the time.

[quratulainkhaliq]

Not in that way, take a scenario that you are working in some CMYK space, and copies a logo to put in that document. if you just place it with default settings you ll notice this "disapearing problem". 

i dint meant to change your document to other mode, just make sure that the document is in a single required mode thats it.

[Monika Gause]

If you just paste artwork into a document then the pasted artwork will automatically be converted into the document mode.