Illustrator opens file but shows nothing

[Dio Vayne]

Recently this started happening: I open Illustrator and open a file (either from recents or through the File > Open menu). It looks like it's opening the file. Heck, sometimes it even flashes the illustration for half a second, and then... nothing. See video.

Same thing with the Beta version which leads me to believe is has to do with the videodrivers. So I tried both Gamer version as 'Stable' version. No difference.

Sometimes rebooting helps, but my workflow is so 'complicated' that rebooting really gets me out of the flow.

Anyone else has this problem. Or rather, has the solution?

EDIT

I also get this error every now and then. Might this be related? 

update
I was able to open the file in the web version of Illustrator. Not ideal, but I needed to get my work done. I'm looking at Affinity Designer for a future solution.

[sishamIAGD]

This might help with the Acrobat issue: https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat-reader-discussions/acrobat-collaboration-synchronizer-24-1-ha...

[sishamIAGD]

And with the Illustrtor issue, have you tried uninstalling, clearing preferences, and reinstalling?

Also have you zoomed right out to check if anything is there?

[Dio Vayne]

I try to leave this as a last resort because of all the plugins I have to find, install and register again. 

I've tried zooming out yes. And it seems to be happening random. Last week I thought I found a solution. Thinking it had to do with the fact that files were on a Google Drive folder. But the fix that seemed to work doesn't work today, so it was just a fluke.

[Dio Vayne]

I've been trying to edit a file all morning, so at a last resort I tried clearing preferences, uninstalling and reinstalling and still the same issue. As you can see, the file first pops up and then disappears.

[Srishti Bali]

Hi @Dio Vayne,

Thank you for trying out the troubleshooting steps and keeping us updated. Could you please provide a bit more information?

• The exact version of Illustrator and your operating system.
• It appears you're using a Windows machine—have you tried updating your graphics card drivers? If so, which graphics card driver are you using?
• When did this issue start occurring? Did it begin after a recent update?

Also, please try turning off GPU Performance and Animated Zoom in Illustrator's preferences (Edit> Preferences > Performance > check GPU performance and Animated zoom) and let us know if that makes a difference.

We're here to help!

Regards,

Srishti

[Dio Vayne]

Of course.

• I'm running Windows 11 Pro 64 bit on an Intel i9 with 64GB RAM
• Illustrator 28.5 64 bit
• Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 with the latest studio drivers.
• And I've tried switching off the GPU and zoom settings.
• The issues started accuring randomly a few weeks back. Sometimes It will start working out of the blue, but the last few days I haven't been able to open a file. None of the file extensions (also JPG for instance).

[Anubhav M]

Hello @Dio Vayne,

Thanks for sharing the details. Would you mind performing a clean reinstallation of the GPU drivers (Intel / NVIDIA / AMD) and setting the Graphics Preference to High-Performance for Illustrator (https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/faq/gpu-110) and checking if it helps?

Also, try running Illustrator under a different administrator account (Windows / macOS) and under Safe Mode (Windows / macOS) and share your observations.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,

Anubhav

[Dio Vayne]

I've done it all and the only thing that worked was running in safe mode.

[Monika Gause]

---

@Dio Vayne  schrieb:

I've done it all and the only thing that worked was running in safe mode.

---

Then obviously there is something custom installed or your user folder is corrupt.

[Dio Vayne]

I've already tried removing "Adobe Illustrator 28 Settings" from the Roaming folder.
Uninstalled Illustrator and remove setting.

Reinstall Illustrator

But somehow this doesn't remove all extensions. I still see the flaticon extension but I can't find it in any of the adobe folders.

[Dio Vayne]

Did I mention the same thing is going on with Illustrator Beta? No extension or plugins.

[Dio Vayne]

Update for now: I change the display settings from 60Hz to 30Hz and tried opening a file with Illustrato Beta and it worked. Then I switched back to 60Hz and it opened again.

Then tried it with Illustrator (non-beta) and it didn't work when switching to 30Hz but it opened when switching to 60Hz. Then it working 30Hz also. 

Also, I have to this every time after reopening Illustrator. 

So somehow, switching between refresh rates seems to fix the problem. But why?

[Dio Vayne]

Update: this 'hack' stopped working. I haven't been able to open my documents today.

[Monika Gause]

Have you already contacted Customer Care, so they can have a look into your system? https://helpx.adobe.com/contact.html 

[Anubhav M]

Hello @Dio Vayne,

Sorry to hear about your experience. Would you mind trying to run Illustrator under a different administrator account (Windows / macOS) and checking if it helps? If the problem persists, it could have something to do with the GPU drivers. Try performing a clean reinstall of the GPU drivers or reinstall Windows (if possible) and share your observations.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,

Anubhav

[Monika Gause]

Can you share that file so we can try  it?

Change the file extension to pdf and you can upload it to the forum.

[Dio Vayne]

It's not dependent on a certain file. It's with all files.