Issue: Object dimensions become huge after reopening a file, affecting tools and workflow

[GUILHERME34091322erss]

Hi everyone,

I’m experiencing a serious issue in Illustrator.

When I create a new document, everything works fine: objects display at the correct size on the artboard, and their dimensions in the Properties/Transform panel are accurate.

But after I save the file, close Illustrator, and reopen the same document, the objects still look visually correct on the artboard. However, in the Properties/Transform panel their dimensions suddenly become extremely large.

The problem is that once this happens, all Illustrator tools (transform, align, distribute, scaling, etc.) start following these incorrect giant dimensions, which makes it impossible to keep working normally in the same file. It also affects zoom and scroll performance, which become very slow or freeze.

So visually the artwork looks right, but Illustrator is treating it as if it were scaled to enormous values.

Has anyone else faced this? Could it be a units/scale mismatch or a known bug in how Illustrator handles saved files? Any workaround or fix would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

[GaryC1982]

I think it's just changed the units back to the default (points rather than mm). Check the units in prefs. There is another bug where occasionally it seems to revert the default unit when you perform certain tasks (I get it sometimes when I change my keyboard increment).

[Ton Frederiks]

What units are you using?

Is it a Large Canvas document you are working on? If you zoom in as much as you can, what is your maximum zoom percentage?

[GUILHERME34091322erss]

I’m working with centimeters as my unit.

This is not a Large Canvas document, just a regular file.

When I zoom in as much as possible, the maximum zoom percentage I get is 3169.54%.

The selected item was originally created at around 20 × 9 cm, but after saving, closing, and reopening the file, its reported size in the Properties/Transform panel changed and became extremely large, even though visually on the artboard it still looks the same as before.

[Ton Frederiks]

You should be able to zoom from 3,1 to 64000% in a regular canvas document and from 0,31 to 6400% in a Large Canvas document. It looks like a Large Canvas Document, but obviously it is not.

Is the behaviour repeatable with new documents?

Usually when strange things start happening, Restarting the computer and Resetting your Preferences are the first things to try.

I never saw this reported before, so if this is repeatable, you may want to report it here: 

https://illustrator.uservoice.com/

[default3kd4dunxsrg8]

I am also experiencing the same issue. 

It is frustrating!

[default3kd4dunxsrg8]

 this was an A4 object. when i saved it and re opened the file the size is now 166892.755mm wide? How is this possible?

I cannot zoom out any further to see the entire canvas which has more artboards on, which have also enlarged.

[Ton Frederiks]

What is your zoom percentage when you zoom out to the maximum possible?

[default3kd4dunxsrg8]

0.31%

[Ton Frederiks]

That is a large Canvas size artboard.

[default3kd4dunxsrg8]

it wasn't before i saved it. only went large when i opened the file.

All my artwork is now unusable

[default3kd4dunxsrg8]

is there any way to return it to a standard canvas size?

[Ton Frederiks]

Can you try to go to one of the default options in the Print section when creating a new A4 file?

To avoid that you create files with your last settings.

[default3kd4dunxsrg8]

when i start a new document, everything is ok. 

i've opened old documents and they are fine. if i save the good document, occassionally it will enlarge the canvas?

I've noticed when saving, the asterix next to the filename on the tab does not dissappear. but doesn't give me any warnings.

[Ton Frederiks]

You may have created a large canvas document by accident and not noticed the warning triangle.

Or it may be something else causing the sudden large dimensions.

Unfortunately there is no way to go from a large canvas back to a regular one, only copy and paste into a regular sized canvas.

[default3kd4dunxsrg8]

ok, thanks for your help. i will have to shrink each artboard by 1000% and copy and paste into a new document and hope the issue stays away

[Akshaya98A2]

Did you notice any change in the units and that causing this issue? Or, units were same and just the dimensions changed?

[Ton Frederiks]

@default3kd4dunxsrg8  and @GUILHERME34091322erss What Illustrator build version (in About Illustrator) are you using?

[default3kd4dunxsrg8]

29.7.1 (64 bit)

[Ton Frederiks]

Thanks for the info @default3kd4dunxsrg8 

[default3kd4dunxsrg8]

Is there a way to roll back to a prevoius build?

The problem only started on this build.

[Ton Frederiks]

Does it still give you problems? If so you can go back:

https://helpx.adobe.com/download-install/apps/download-install-apps/creative-cloud-apps/install-prev...

[default3kd4dunxsrg8]

yes, i opened a file i create a few days ago and that went the same - huge, yet it was ok yesterday when i opened it.

i've rolled back to 29.6.1, hopefully this will stop what its doing 

[Abhishek Rao]

Hi everyone,

Thanks a lot for sharing all the details here. I tried reproducing this on Illustrator 29.7.1 on Windows but could not replicate the issue. Could you try the same steps with a simple newly created file, save it, close Illustrator, and then reopen it to check if the problem still happens? If it does, it would be really helpful if you could share a short screen recording showing the process from creating the file, saving, and reopening, so I can take it back to the team for investigation. Also, please confirm the OS you are working on, so we can narrow this down further.

Looking forward to your updates.

Abhishek 

[Kerwane5CED]

Hopefully, this video shows clearly what the problem looks like,