Illustrator missing windows/panels

[normanbones]

Illustrator CC2019 v 23.0 on iMac 2017 os 10.14.1

Since I worked on a document with two wide artboards many of my panels have disappeared. Calling them up under the Window menu does not restore them (even though they become checked) and resetting the workspace or choosing a different workspace does not help. I noticed a very thin part of the layers window on the extreme right of my screen and was able to drag it back, which leads me to believe the panels are rendering off  screen. I've tried quitting and restarting and working on an older smaller document but this did not help. A lot of my panels have permanently disappeared.

This makes illustrator more or less impossible to use.

David

[barbara_a]

Try resetting preferences. How to set preferences in Illustrator

[normanbones]

Although this is the logical next step it unfortunately didn't solve the problem. I tried the keyboard shortcut to delete Illustrator preferences on opening which didn't work, then I located the actual preferences file for Illustrator 23 in my user Library/Preferences folder and deleted that. (I deleted both the Adobe Illustrator Prefs and Illustrator Cloud Prefs files). On restarting illustrator and opening a new document (postcard template) no panels were showing and the only workspace which showed panels is Essentials Classic - which, interestingly, still showed the few remaining panels in the same arrangement as I had moved them to previously. This seems to indicate that deleting the preferences isn't actually deleting the info about panel placement. I tried deleting the preferences several times but no change. It is, for instance impossible to call up the Stroke panel - it just doesn't appear. Help!

[Monika Gause]

If you deleted the complete folder (after shutting down Illustrator), then you also deleted the workspaces.

Do you have any virtual desktops, second space or any of those Apple things set up? I don't use them, I don't know how they work, how you set them up or turn them off. I don't even know how they are called correctly.

Do you have the Application frame turned on in Illustrator? You might try this first.

[barbara_a]

Sounds like you might need the CC Cleaner tool. Use the Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool to solve installation problems

[normanbones]

Completely deleting Illustrator and using the cleaner tool to make sure, then reinstalling Illustrator, fixed the problem! Many thanks for the help Monika and Barbara.

[barbara_a]

You're most welcome, normanbones.