Illustrator Crashes When Copying - Illustrator 29.6.1 / Win 11

[Boon23853857gxj4]

I’m experiencing an issue with Adobe Illustrator where I cannot copy anything. Both Ctrl+C and right-click > Copy cause the software to crash immediately. This has been happening repeatedly throughout the day.

Could you please advise on the cause and any possible solution? It’s really frustrating that Illustrator can’t handle such a basic function like copying without crashing.

[MG Prolix]

Self same issue (Win11 box); all working fine until noon and then ctrl-c on a shape in the doc I created this morning to pop into a doc I created this afternoon causes a shutdown. Big job to get finished and this has stopped me in my tracks.  

[briang43149992]

Same, we have 3 team members also on Windows that prevents from copying on old or saved documents, works on a create new document, but once saved and reopened its back to crashing, the right click then copy or edit tab then copy functions result to crashing as well. Updated, downgraded, uninstall, reinstall, safe mode, diagnostic check have no effect or help on the crashing.

[Scottttt]

Issue started 8/6 for me in 29.6. Updated to 29.7.1 and issue persists. New documents copy and paste fine but any existing document cannot. 

Managed enterprise account and can't run safe/mode or disable windows defender. 

[Scottttt]

Woah ho ho, new document was fine for about an hour but now any copy and paste results in a crash inside that new doc too. 

[Juan291364316xl2]

Bump..... so that Adobe knows we need this fix to come soon to continue to produce work, we are dead in the water!

[nicholas_4215]

Also experiencing this issue. Doesn't matter if it's via hotkeys or from the menu, any copy or cut command causes Illustrator to hang for a moment then crash. Was able to drag and drop items from one open project to another without issue as a workaround but it's a massive hinderance. Computers are managed by IT, safemode isn't a realistic option.

[josephf23893693]

Having the same issue for CTRL-X and CTRL-C.

Alt click is a work around, but not perfect.

[blairb13924821]

Alt+Click is also working as a working around for my team.

[emilie_6323]

I've been experiencing this all day so far today, August 7, 2025. I hope this is fixed soon!

[cameron_2047]

We've been experiencing this since 08.06.25. Half of our team is down. We've tried all of the "tricks" in this thread but nothing has worked. 

[cathy_6954]

I'm having this issue as of today as well (Aug 7, 2025).  I use Illustrator for work on a daily basis and need to get this resolved ASAP.  Please tell me there is a remedy.

[emilie_6323]

The only thing I found to work or as a workaround is to use the browser version, but its slow going and limited. I can't disable defender or do much adjusting of settings due to company policy and permissions set by IT.

[Sheri25420699n6dl]

OMG, I have been dealing with this issue all day today too! I even rolled back my version and it is doing the same thing!! I cannot get any work done. Please can we get a fix!! 

[jerry h]

Same here!

I work from a PC in the office and from my home office.  Both are running Windows 10 Pro.  Defender is not running.

The problem started on my work PC yesterday.  Tried the usuall of uninstalling and reinstalling it (Two versions) to no avail.  I was using Illustrator a little, copying images into Photoshop.  It was working fine, then a couple of times it wouldn't copy to the clipboard, then at another attempt it gave me some kind of "can't copy to a non .pdf document" error, or something like that.  But I did eventually get it to copy and paste a couple more times before it started crashing every time!?  Reboot didn't help... haven't tried safe mode.

I am typically running C4D, Teams, Mail and Firefox.

[Green_00000]

My Illustrator is crashing everytime I try to copy. I have tried installing all versions, and none work.

Windows is updated. I cannot uninstall security measures, I need to work with them on.

[judyz91332516]

Just adding myself as another user this is happening to. Very annoying.

[JZ000]

Same here.

Do we have solution yet?

[cat_phantasm5112]

Bumping this thread, I can't copy/paste either without Illustrator crashing. I'm on version 29.7.1.

[defaultiyzlgip37aru]

Confirming that the crashing behaviour is continuing after a fresh install, following an uninstall and deletion of user preferences.

[Brian34626243v626]

Pls save as your file to eps format and then the copy and paste function will work again for temporarily use.

[oliver_1615]

Saving as EPS file did NOT work for me.  Copying immediately crashed the application just the same as with .ai files.

I've tried three different versions of Illustrator, from the latest, to the lastest 28.x as well as the oldest release.  They are all experincing the same issue.  I did a full removal, deleted all the settings and left over files I could find, reinstallted, same problem.  Tried old files and new.

This started for me earlier today.  Prior that it was working fine.  Even about 2 hours ago I was able to copy and few things in my file.  Not absoluately nothing copies and it's an instant crash.   This is a really crazy bug.

[oliver_1615]

I should add that I also cannot run in safe mode or disable windows defender due to my company's security policy settings.

[Brian34626243v626]

Hi, after saving to .eps format.  You must close the program and open the .eps again. It works!!
As I found that if you just save to .eps without quit AI, it will still crash when do copy and paste.

[oliver_1615]

I see - yes this seems to work now after closing illustrator and reopening the saved EPS file.

What a crazy bug this is.  

It must be related to a windows update that has been slowly rolling out on people's computers, which introduces some change that effects both the latest and many older/prior versions of Illustrator as well. 

[Ryan27790857ge0n]

ICT manager for a school here, we are experiencing these issues on our entire lab (Win 11, Gen 9 Processors, Discrete GPU). Affecting entire classes of students and severely impacting teaching and learning. 

Various versions affected (29.6.1, 29.7.1). Unable to install previous versions of Adobe Illustrator on Creative Cloud. Have attempted to perform with Defender disabled, with Domain, Public, and Private turned off I was able to copy+paste but after turning off this continued working so not sure if a coincidence or not.