Links Missing Upon Crash

[Jennifer Vencill]

Whenever my illustrator crashes, all the links go missing.  The links menu shows question marks, and the only way to repair the files is to replace each link individually.

This has been happening for a couple years now, through multiple updates.

[Nancy OShea]

[Moderator moved from Using the Community (forums) to Illustrator.]

I think the bigger question is what's causing Illustrator to crash?

Does this happen with all files or just a particular one?

[Jennifer Vencill]

I feel like illustrator has been crashing for me regularly since 1998!  I generally am working with a number of files open at once, mostly with simple text and linked .tif files.

[Nancy OShea]

Make sure your computer meets the minimum CPU & GPU requirements.

https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/system-requirements.html
https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/system-requirements.html

Also save files often with Ctrl / Cmd + S.

[Jennifer Vencill]

I'm on a 2017 imac with well over the minimum requirements.  

[Nancy OShea]

Frequent crashes are often caused by insufficent graphics.  See the chart below.

GPU

To use GPU Performance, your Mac should have a minimum of 1024 MB of VRAM (2 GB recommended), and your computer must support Metal. Supported machines iMac 4K iMac 5K MacBook Pro Retina Mac Pro connected to a HiDPI monitor Mac mini connected to a HiDPI monitor To check for VRAM value, choose Mac > About This Mac (Graphics information) To find out if your computer supports the required OpenGL version (4.0 or later), see this Apple support document.

[Jennifer Vencill]

My computer has a Radeon Pro 575 with 4GB VRAM.

I'd like to figure out a solution to links missing on crashing.

[Nancy OShea]

I'd prefer to figure out why your system is crashing.  That's not normal behavior.

Have you checked crash reports in Mac Console?

https://support.apple.com/guide/console/reports-cnsl664be99a/mac

Or reach out to Adobe for technical support.

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[Anubhav Majumder]

Hello @Jennifer Vencill ,

Sorry to hear about this experience. In addition to the information requested above I would request you to share a few more details like:

•  Exact version of Illustrator and the OS
• Where the linked files are saved (Network Drive/ System HDD/ Shared Folder on System/ External HDD)?
• Crash Report for Illustrator 
  While submitting the crash report please use the same email address, with which you are signed in on this community. This will help us find the crash report and help accordingly.

I would also request you to reset the preferences for Illustrator and share your observations with us.

Disclaimer: Please note that resetting preferences 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. Location is mentioned in the article.


Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thanks,

Anubhav