Increased Performance Problems and Dropdown Menus Breaking

[JP Nel]

Hi All,

I have been experiencing a weird problem with Illustrator and have been enduring it for quite a while, hoping it is just a bug that would be fixed. But since it just happened again, I decided to grab a few screenshots and see if someone knew about a solution.

It seems that Illustrator launches perfectly fine, and everything is normal for roughly the first hour. Then Illustrator started becoming slower, with increased problems the more I keep on working. Eventually, it creates a black screen over the artboards, and then I know it's time to check that I have saved.

At this point, if you want to use any of the dropdown menus, it is blank (just white) and only reveals the options when you mouse over them. Even if you just want to close and use the save prompt that posts up, that is also blank (although you can guess where the buttons are, and they still work).

I have a fairly good computer and all my drivers are updated. I have uninstalled Illustrator, chose not to remember my preferences and deleted any leftover files. Unfotunilty, after freshly installing Illustrator again, the problem persists. The only way to temporarily fix it is to save and restart Illustrator until it happens again in 1-2 hours.

Since it is such a random problem, I understand a thousand things can cause it. I am just trying my luck to see if someone else experienced the same thing and maybe found a solution to the problem.

Screenshots attached of the menus being blank and only revealing when mousing over, the prompt that pops up when closing without saving first, and in the background, you can see the black screen it causes over the artboards.

I appreciate your time and advice!

[Monika Gause]

Did you already try the usual things such as resetting the preferences (will erase all your settings)?

You can also contact Cutomer Care so they take a look at it: https://helpx.adobe.com/contact.html

[JP Nel]

Hi Monika, thank you for the response. Unfortunately, I have tried this. When I uninstalled Illustrator, I chose the option to forget all my settings and preferences. I should have taken a screenshot of my panels and layout before doing this, as I can't seem to get everything back exactly how I had it. Haha.

[Anubhav M]

Hello JP In,

Sorry to hear about this experience. I would request you try running Illustrator under a different administrator account and share your observations.

Looking forward to your response.

Thanks,

Anubhav

[JP Nel]

Hi Anubhav, thank you for your response and recommendations. I don't have another account set up on this PC (I will leave creating an extra account as a last resort). However, in another post, I saw someone recommended running Windows in Safe Mode. This should do the same effect as your recommendation, and I will give that a go today. Thank you once again!

[tikyta]

Same Issue here.
we are some many since the last update few weeks a go.
Do you found a solution?
In this moment I´m trying this one...
https://community.adobe.com/t5/illustrator-discussions/illustrator-graphics-error-save-panels-missin...

[JP Nel]

Hi Tikyta, sorry to hear you also have the same problem. I haven't found a solution yet but will do some testing with the Windows Safe mode to see if it is third-party problem. But judging from others problems, it feels like it is an Illustrator problem. I will post if I find a fix!

[tikyta]

Hi @JP Nel ! Yes, it is an Illustrator problem for sure.
This start to happen since the last 2 updates (26.4.1 / 26.5 versions). Until that point has been works perfectly.
It is very annoying because sometimes if is a new document I can lost all my work... so Adobe should fix this ASAP.
What do you know about this @Anubhav M  ?
Thanks

[Anubhav M]

Hello @tikyta,

Thanks for getting back. I would request you try the following steps and check if it helps:

1. Rename the CEP folder to CEP.old from the following location:
   /Library/Application Support/Adobe
   
   
2. Rename the UXP folder to UXP.old from the following locations:
   /Library/Application Support/Adobe
   ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe
   
   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:

Looking forward to your response.

Regards.

[JP Nel]

Hi @Anubhav M 

Please confirm if this solution applies to Windows users or if it is just for Mac? I am on Windows, and I can't find those paths anywhere. I look forward to your response.

[Anubhav M]

Hello JP In,

Sorry for the confusion. Here are the steps to manually remove preferences on Windows computers:

- Close all Adobe applications.
- Go to Location C:\Users\%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Adobe
- Rename Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Illustrator 26 Settings folders to Adobe Illustrator.old and Adobe Illustrator - 26 Settings.old
- Relaunch Illustrator
 

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

Looking forward to your response.

Regards.

[JP Nel]

Hi Anubhav,

Thank you for the clarification regarding the file location and steps. I had Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Illustrator 25 and Adobe Illustrator 26 in that file and renamed all three with .old. It seems it has done the trick, as I could get two full days of work without any problem.

Although, it is still early days as it has only been two days. So I will mark it as the correct answer, and if it breaks again, I will return to this thread.

However, I thank you for the support and hope that the solution works for others as well.

(Side note, it looks like even if you uninstall Illustrator, it leaves these "old" files behind that cause the problem.)

[JP Nel]

*Update: After my post confirming that it looks like this solution fixed the problem, unfortunately, it just started happening again. So I am sorry to say, but this is not the solution to the problem. Any other solutions to the problem?

[tikyta]

@Anubhav MSame problem here.

And after the last update the issue still happening more frequently.

We need a solution ASAP. It is impossible work with this issue happening 2 or 3 times at the day.

[Anubhav M]

Hello @JP Nel, @tikyta,

Thanks for confirming that, and sorry for the late response. Kindly try the suggestions shared by Anshul on this community post (https://community.adobe.com/t5/illustrator-discussions/illustrator-graphics-error-save-panels-missin...) and check if it helps.

Looking forward to your response.

Regards