Illustrator is lagging severely !

[Ghaida273516675hps]

Hello everyone,

I have a somewhat complicated problem. I am working on a large profile project that contains many details and high-quality images, which has made the file size reach 16 GB. Now, I can’t save the file at all. Every time I try to save, the program freezes indefinitely, and in other cases, my PC shuts down, forcing me to start over again. I realy need help Is there any solution to this issue?

 

Here is a screenshot from the Task Manager during the saving process.
Sometimes, memory usage reaches 50% and then drops again, but in all cases, the program remains unresponsive for hours and hours.

[Ghaida273516675hps]

My ram and cpu 

 

[Anubhav M]

Hello @ghaidaE,

I am sorry to hear about the trouble you're having saving files in Illustrator. Would you mind checking if you're saving to an external/network drive or a cloud-synced folder like Google Drive/Dropbox/etc.? If yes, try saving to a local folder on your computer to check if it helps?

Also, try rebooting your computer under Safe Mode (Windows) and a different administrator account (Windows) and share your observations.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Anubhav

[Ghaida273516675hps]

Hello @ghaidaE,

I am sorry to hear about the trouble you're having saving files in Illustrator. Would you mind checking if you're saving to an external/network drive or a cloud-synced folder like Google Drive/Dropbox/etc.? If yes, try saving to a local folder on your computer to check if it helps?

Also, try rebooting your computer under Safe Mode (Windows) and a different administrator account (Windows) and share your observations.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Anubhav

By @Anubhav M

Hello, I save my files locally on my computer. I've tried opening the file in safe mode and with a different user, but the same issue occurs—the program freezes.

[Anubhav M]

Hello @ghaidaE,

Thanks for sharing the details. Would you mind confirming if Illustrator behaves this way with all files? Also, try the suggestions shared in this help article (https://adobe.ly/3P6eCgq) and share your observations.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Anubhav

[Todd_Morgan]

Yup. Thanks Adobe Illustrator has become a clunky mess and you should change the name to Adobe Molasses. What a mess this update is - don't you test this stuff before making it available to us users???????????????????

[Larry G. Schneider]

A couple of questions. Has the file been saved with PDF enabled? And have you ever tried using Save As adding a version number to track? There is a build up of in the history of the PDF part of the file which can only be cleared by using Save As.

[Todd_Morgan]

I save as... every build so that's not of issue - it's the latest update.

[Anubhav M]

Hello @Todd_Morgan,

I'm sorry to hear you're having the same problem with Illustrator on your computer. To better assist you with this, kindly confirm the version of the OS/Illustrator installed and if Illustrator behaves this way when working with files from a particular folder/location.

Also, try the suggestions shared in this help article (https://adobe.ly/4gJcU0b) and share your observations.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Anubhav

[creative explorer]

@Ghaida273516675hps  I was just thinking.... chances are, you are embedding your high-res files to your Illustrator document; have you considered 'linking' the high-res files to Illustrator. It would mean you would need to supply the images and Illustrator file to the commercial printer. Or you can create a print quality PDF. By linking the images, the file size would besignificantly reduce file size for you! 

[Ghaida273516675hps]

@creative explorer 

Could you explain more? I didn’t quite get the point. I’ve saved the file as a PDF before to reduce its size and continue working on it, but when I add more pages, it starts lagging again.

[creative explorer · Accepted solution]

@Ghaida273516675hps In the original post, you wrote: 'working on a large profile project that contains many details and high-quality images, which has made the file size reach 16 GB'

Which means these images that you are using are likely embedded. I am suggesting to 'link' your images. If no check mark beside 'Link,' this means the images are embedded in the Illustrator file meaning, all the high-quality images are part of the Illustrator file

Which means, you are having problems as you wrote: 'Now, I can’t save the file at all. Every time I try to save, the program freezes indefinitely'

For example, I quickly placed 128 images into a document, embedded the file, and the file size is 144.7 mb.
Then I created another document, and I linked the images as shown.

Now look at the 'file info' and the file size of the linked images is: 2.8 MB... I am still able to save the file with no issues and even save a PDF too. 

So, while a linking your images to your Illustrator will not only will save yur files faster, but also a better chance of not crashing. Saving that is over 16 gigs or more sounds lke a headache. To better protect yourself, I would use the 'linking' method. Also, by linking, if you had to update an image, it would be able to quickly 'update' too automatically, unless you change the name

[Ghaida273516675hps]

@creative explorer 

Thank you, this really helped me! . The file size now about 60 Mb

[Ghaida273516675hps]

Hello,

I’ve saved multiple AI versions, but I’m not sure what you mean by “There is a build up of in the history of the PDF part of the file”

What I’ve noticed is that when I disable the “Create PDF Compatible File” option, the file saves much faster and without any issues. Why is that? 😅

[Ghaida273516675hps]

@Larry G. Schneider 

[Larry G. Schneider]

If you save the file with PDF enabled you are saving two files in one. The PDF version will have embedded versions of all images in an uncompressed format. This can add up really quickly.

[Ton Frederiks · Accepted solution]

@Ghaida273516675hps 

Make sure your images are linked and to save the file as Illustrator .ai with turned off: 

Create PDF Compatible File and Include Linked Files