Illustrator top menu keeps on freezing

[simcha5C73]

Has anyone else had this issue? illustrator freezes multiple times a day. It is not a regular freeze. I am working on a MacBook it does not say 'not responding'. Also, the top bar on Illustrator opens and lets me click around but does not actually do anything. I attached a video so u can see what's going on. I really don't want to force quit.  Anyone know of any solutions? 

 I tried keeping track of what makes it happen, sometimes its if i close my laptop, open another program like photoshop or like today when i was disconnected from wifi for a moment

[Ryan219689773spq]

Same problem on two different machines. The Mac Studio and The MacBook Air. Macstudio with 1 or 2 monitors, same problem. The Air, nothing connected. Did fresh installs on both, same thing. fresh install of macOS Sonaoma and only install Illustrator, nothing else, no systems changes other than factory settings, and both have the same problem. the sequecnce of clicks on both, same outcome, frozen toolbar. 

[Ryan219689773spq]

These are Both M1's. by the way. Problem started with Sonoma Update. Never had one problem with Ventura.. I tried installing Illustrator 27.. same problem. So its a Sonama problems for sure.  

[Kevin SWP Print]

I'm facing the same issue too. Running Illustrator 28.2 on the latest iMac with Sonoma OS. The top menu randomly freezes, however the Illustrator and Help in the menu still respond.

I have only 16GB Ram, but its the M3 chip.

[Actovate]

I am having the same problem, where i can keep working but none of the top tool bars do anything.  I am on a MacBook pro 16, with 2.3Ghz 8-Core intel Core i9, with 16GB Ram.  Running macOS Sonoma 14.2.1

[Erica34808740d1oe]

I am experiencing the same  freeze problem with Adobe Illustrator 28.2. I too am using Mac Sonoma 14.2.1 while connected to an external monitor.

[chrisb54107727]

Same issue on MacBook Pro 64GB of Ram and running Sonoma 14.3.1.  It sucks!

[GEORGINA2906912527k0]

Hello! Here are my sytem information:

It is a Macbook Pro 16" 

running Sonoma 14.2.1

[Monika Gause]

There might still be issues with Sonoma.

Maybe contact Customer Care so they can take a look into your system.

https://helpx.adobe.com/contact.html 

[GEORGINA2906912527k0]

Thank you so much! Will reach out to them.

Have a great day!

[Anshul_Saini]

Thank you for sharing detailed information about the freeze issue you're encountering on both your Mac Studio and MacBook Air, both running on M1 chips with Sonoma updates, @Ryan219689773spq.

I appreciate your thorough testing, including the fresh installs and the confirmation that the problem persists on both machines, even with Illustrator 27. It's helpful to know that the issue seems to be related to the Sonoma update.

I will conduct further testing on my end to replicate the problem, and once I've successfully reproduced it, I'll gather relevant bug logs to escalate the matter to our product team for investigation.

I understand the impact this issue has on your workflow, and I want to express my gratitude for your patience in the meantime. We are committed to resolving this problem and will work towards a solution as swiftly as possible.

If you have any additional insights or updates, please feel free to share them here. Your cooperation is invaluable in helping us address and rectify this issue.

Best regards,

Anshul Saini

[Ryan219689773spq]

i just did another screen record for you.. showing that with doing the same stuff.. no fill, fill, it crashes everytime.  https://imgur.com/9DkqebI

There are no error screens, no full crash, no bug reports displayed etc.. just frozen toolbar. 

[Anshul_Saini]

Thank you for providing a screen recording, @Ryan219689773spq. I've reviewed the recording, and it seems to be a challenging situation.

As a potential workaround, could you please try the following steps: Navigate to Illustrator menu > Settings > General > Confirm or adjust any general settings as needed > Click "OK" to apply the changes.

This action may help reinitialize the toolbar and, in some cases, resolve the freeze issue. If you have any additional insights or details, feel free to share them.

Regards,

Anshul Saini

[Ryan219689773spq]

I just left the house to go download offline adobe installers and Ventura at a faster internet. I'll return in a couple of hours to try. 

[Anshul_Saini]

Thank you for testing and providing an update, @Ryan219689773spq, and I'm glad to hear that the workaround to reactivate the toolbar worked for you. I understand the importance of having a functional workspace in Adobe Illustrator.

I'll make sure to forward this information to our product team for their awareness. In the meantime, if you encounter any further issues or have additional insights, please don't hesitate to share them. Your feedback plays a crucial role in helping us improve the overall user experience.

Thank you for your patience and collaboration in resolving this matter. If there's anything else you'd like to discuss or inquire about, please feel free to let us know.

Best,

Anshul Saini

[Ryan219689773spq]

Anshul Saini, that actually worked to get the toolbar to be reactivaed!!! I just drove 100 Miles to download files and this could actually keep me going a bit as a workaround. So i did it a few times and to reactive it, open settings, and click OK ( no need to make any changes ).. then the menu starts to work again.  here is a recording of it. https://imgur.com/QOospw5

As you can see again, it chokes when a no fill is selected for a shape after teh shape has been created with a fill. 

[Actovate]

I tried: Navigate to Illustrator menu > Settings > General > Confirm or adjust any general settings as needed > Click "OK" to apply the changes.

It work, so not sure if this is a permanent fix as it has happened a number of times.

[Anubhav M]

Hello @Actovate,

We understand that encountering technical issues can be frustrating. Would you mind trying to update macOS (https://adobe.ly/3wVgtPd) to the latest version and manually resetting Illustrator's preferences to check if they help:

For macOS

• Close all Adobe applications.

• Go to the following locations

• ~/Library/Caches

• ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe

• ~/Library/Preferences

• Rename Adobe Illustrator, com.adobe.illustrator and Adobe Illustrator 28 Settings folders to Adobe Illustrator.old, com.adobe.illustrator.old and Adobe Illustrator 28 Settings.old

• Launch Illustrator from the Creative Cloud.

Note: Location starting with this "~" sign indicates the User Library, which is hidden. So, you need to copy & paste the exact path in spotlight search or from Finder Menu > Go > Go to Folder > Paste the location in the dialog box like this:

Disclaimer: Please note that renaming preferences folders will remove all the custom settings, and Illustrator will launch with default settings. You can also save a backup of the folders in case you want to. The location is mentioned above.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,

Anubhav

[Actovate]

Hi There,

Carried out all of the suggested changes and still have the problem.

Regards,

Gene

Gene Kuhtze
Director at Actovate Ltd
Mobile +64 21 955 763
Web www.actovate.co.nz <> Email gene@actovate.co.nz
7A Lingarth Street, Remuera, Auckland 1050
[signature_979200607]

[Anubhav M]

Hello @Actovate,

We're sorry for the trouble. It looks like we need to troubleshoot this in a live session. Please head here (https://adobe.ly/4a9vls8) and select the chat button in the lower-right corner of the page. We can help troubleshoot faster that way.

Thanks,

Anubhav

[rhysg95311080]

Same here, just updated to latest Sonoma to see if that fixes it, but now getting more buttons going AWOL, currently can't use Transform objects tool as the button is greyed out and cannot be clicked, yesterday i was unable to rename a colour in libraries! I've spent so much time reading forums, its driving me crazy, Adobe, please fix this. Illustrator is currently a liability, causing me extra work and time with the constant re boots and lost work.

[Anubhav M]

Hello @rhysg95311080,

We understand that encountering technical issues can be frustrating. Would you mind trying to run Illustrator under Safe Mode (Windows / macOS) and checking if it helps? Also, try running Illustrator under a different administrator account (Windows / macOS) and share your observations.

If the problem persists, kindly share more details, like the exact version of the OS/Illustrator, details about your workflow, and a screen recording of the problem (https://adobe.ly/4awakHK), so we can investigate this further.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,

Anubhav

[CindyRVA]

WHY would I start my brand new MacBook Pro configured for design work (as far as power, memory, chip, etc) WHY would I start in Safe Mode to fix your applications glitches?

[Monika Gause]

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@CindyRVA  schrieb:

WHY would I start my brand new MacBook Pro configured for design work (as far as power, memory, chip, etc) WHY would I start in Safe Mode to fix your applications glitches?

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Starting in Safe Mode is the first step in troubleshooting in order to find out where the issue is. On your machine or in the application. 

[CindyRVA]

DUH, of course but here's the deflection by Adobe:

EVERYONE with this issue happens to have a machine with some issue that causes that ONE application to malfunction. Logic tells intelligent people it's not all the varied machines worldwide but the one commonality which is the application that's the problem.

[Monika Gause]

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@CindyRVA  schrieb:

Logic tells intelligent people 

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You can believe your "logic" or you can have your machine investigated. Your choice. 

To get Customer Care take a look into it: https://helpx.adobe.com/contact.html 

I guess you are running Sonoma? Is it already updated to the very latest version? If not you might want to do that, because the previous versions have had issues (wonder why Apple has a rather new system already on the 4th update?, oh no, it's already 4.1 ...)

If you have Magnet or a similar app installed, try and close it, it doesn't play well with Illustrator. And its manufacturers have not solved that.