Illustrator is slow and keeps "not responding"

[etrnlflame]

Whenever I use Adobe Illustrator, tasks that should take 5 seconds end up taking 60 because after every single action I do, Illustrator "stops responding". I've tried resetting my Illustrator settings (which requires me to submit a ticket with IT and have them enter the admin password on my computer, so I'd rather not try it again) but it didn't work.

The file only has about three layers, so I don't think it's very complex. On another note, because it's been converted from a PDF, the text is in many bits and pieces, so perhaps that has something to do with how laggy it is? Otherwise I have no idea why it's so slow.

[Bill Silbert]

Your post is a little confusing as to whether this is something that is happening with every document or just a single one that was originally a pdf. If it is the latter situation then the multiple insertion points that the text has been converted to may very well be the cause of your problem depending on the amount of text as well as the complexity of the layout.

[srjanssen]

Since February 6th, Adobe Illustrator CC 2019 is unbearable: I am not converting from a PDF: I am creating new documents, maximum 6 layers, and with every single command I receive "Illustrator not Responding" and the lag time from the time I issue a command to the time there is a response can last as long as two minutes.  Furthermore, the line weight command will not draw a line less than 4 points.  It took an hour to knock out a simple one page flyer that should have taken 20 minutes.  I am running Windows 10 64 bit with the most current upgrade.  A quick diagnosis tells me the GPU is working fine: I am using NVIDIA Quattro 1000M.

[Monika Gause]

srjanssen  schrieb

Since February 6th, Adobe Illustrator CC 2019 is unbearable: I am not converting from a PDF: I am creating new documents, maximum 6 layers, and with every single command I receive "Illustrator not Responding" and the lag time from the time I issue a command to the time there is a response can last as long as two minutes.  Furthermore, the line weight command will not draw a line less than 4 points.  It took an hour to knock out a simple one page flyer that should have taken 20 minutes.  I am running Windows 10 64 bit with the most current upgrade.  A quick diagnosis tells me the GPU is working fine: I am using NVIDIA Quattro 1000M.

Please create a new thread.

[Jonskipop]

Hi, how do I find the thread relating to the 'not responding/laggy' issue? I am having the same thing happen.

[Bill Silbert]

If you want to take some time and "fix" your insertion points so that the text becomes flowable, and hopefully less complex, you can do so using Area Type. To do so Draw a box around an area of text that you want to make into flowable text. Lock the box (Command (Mac)/Control (PC)-2). Select all of the text with the direct selection tool and Cut it (Command (Mac)/Control (PC)-X). Unlock the box (Option (Mac)/Alt (PC)-Command (Mac)/Control (PC)-2). Click on the box with the Area Type tool and paste in (Command (Mac)/Control (PC)-V) the text into the box. It is now flowable. Caution, though, occasionally a space between words may get dropped. It can be an arduous process but it will leave you with an .ai file that is far less complex. See screen shot below:

[etrnlflame · Accepted solution]

It seems that Illustrator gets slow if I have the document open for longer than a day. Because I was working on it for days, I had it open at work continually. It's a bit annoying that I have to remember to close it once a day to make sure I can work on the file, but it's nice that I can actually work on it.

[Benisa]

I have the same problem, were you able to solve?

[rebeccam4955628]

I have the same problem, has anyone solved it??

[Heenaaah]

I have the same problem,  I have blamed my system too long to be selectively slow and abnormal with illustrator. Photoshop and even dimension works fineee...

[Jonskipop]

I have the same problem, it's been happening for a while and it is drviving me crazy - 99% certain it isn't my computer - more so after seeing this thread.

[Anshul_Saini]

Hi @Jonskipop,

Sorry to hear about your experience. I would request you to share a few more details like:

• OS & version of Illustrator
• Does Illustrator start not responding or slow down while working on a specific file or all? Is it a new document or an old document?
•  Does it slow down after performing a particular action or while using a specific feature/ tool?
• Where are your files saved (Network Drive/ System HDD/ Shared Folder on System/ External HDD)?
• When did this start happening? Are there any recent changes made to your system? For example, any antivirus, system updates, plugins, or web extensions installed recently.

We are here to help. We just need more information.

Thanks & Regards,

Anshul Saini

[Srishti Bali · Accepted solution]

Hi all,

We understand how frustrating performance issues are. We have consolidated the most popular solutions that help fix these issues. Please check this help article for more details.

If you still need help, feel free to reach out, we'd be happy to help.

Regards,

Srishti

[matt23891174jksz]

Hi, i have used Illustrator for may years and Illustrator has become gradually worse in performance. It used to be a few seconds to start and now takes 20 secons.

My (new) PC (WIN 10) has an i7, 12 gen processor and has 32GB of RAM. about 5GB are allocated for paging.

Task manager shows that Illustrator uses over 3GB of memory.

All I have open is an imported PDF which origially had only 600kB!

Any small activity in Illustrator takes very very long and is coming to a point where it is entirely useless.

[Anshul_Saini]

Hi @matt23891174jksz,

We're sorry to hear that you're experiencing performance issues with Adobe Illustrator. It's understandable that this would be frustrating, especially when you have a powerful computer.

Would you mind confirming if you have tried any troubleshooting, like resetting preferences, updating GPU drivers, etc.?

Also, would it be possible for you to share the PDF and your system information here or via DM with me, so we can further investigate the issue on our end?

Thank you for your patience as we work to resolve this issue.

Best,

Anshul Saini

[matth75110685]

Hi, my computer is just about 2 weeks old. Intel and Nvidia display drivers are less than 6 month old.

The file I use is proprietary but as mentioned has only a few MB in PDF format.

When I open illustrator it uses about 700MB. Creating a new file, memory use is already over 1GB - nothing in the file yet. Save the empty file - memory goes to 1.1GB. Added some text and the memory use dropped a little under 1.1GB -  very strange.

I have another PDF (3MB) open in illustrator and save as ai - file is 4MB large. OPen in isllsutrator - memory use is 1.4GB. 

Is that any differenty in your system?

[Anshul_Saini]

Hi @matth75110685,

Thanks for your time & patience. It appears that this is the expected behavior. When I have two new blank documents open on my Mac, it consumes 1.5GB of memory.

Would you mind trying optimizing your PC as suggested in the following YouTube Videos and see if that helps:
https://youtu.be/AlX1vB7ItJc?t=1768 
https://youtu.be/acxCueZ2dVQ?t=466

Let me know how it goes.

Best,
Anshul Saini

[Emma24630100uc3r]

Did you find a fix for this? I have the same issue and I have a project due tomorrow and have not got time for this 'not responding' messge after every move i make. Its infuriating how expensive these programmes are and they dont even work properly. 

[Monika Gause]

Please tell us your hardware specifications.

WHen was the last time you rebooted the system?

Does it work better when you shut down everything else? Particularly your browser.

[matth75110685]

No update.

I think it is a problem with their code. Adobe tries to blame it on hardware or your PC's configuration. There is a new version of Illustrator every few weeks. My suspicion is they just add code and features without performance on their mind. If you can get a version of Illustrator that is 5 years old , you have a better chance of decent performance, I can't rmember when performace degraded. It initially, (4-5 years ago) the startup time of the program changed from almost instantly (on my a much slower PC) to now about 15 seconds on my new PC (Intel i7 12th gen.with 32GB of RAM.and a fase NVMe hard drive.

[Monika Gause]

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@matth75110685  a écrit :

No update.

I think it is a problem with their code. Adobe tries to blame it on hardware or 

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Can you please let the other person answer?

Thank you.

[Anubhav M]

Hello @Emma24630100uc3r, @matth75110685,

We understand that encountering technical issues can be frustrating. Would you mind trying the suggestions shared in this help article (https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/kb/optimize-illustrator-performance.html) and checking if it helps?
If not, kindly share more details, like the exact version of the OS/Illustrator, system config (CPU/GPU/Memory), a sample file (https://community.adobe.com/t5/illustrator-discussions/share-your-files-in-6-simple-steps/td-p/12967...), and a screen recording of the problem (https://community.adobe.com/t5/illustrator-discussions/screen-record-an-issue-on-windows-amp-macos-f...), as suggested by Monika so that we can investigate this further?

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,

Anubhav