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pietrob51238225
Participating Frequently
October 27, 2025
Question

Mousewheel usage create lag

  • October 27, 2025
  • 12 replies
  • 1130 views

Basically, title.

 

Using alt +  mousewheel to zoom in and out is very laggy and slow (5-10 seconds to update). No issues on previous version or using zoom tool. Issue persists with animated zoom disabled and enabling "zoom with mousewheel".

 

Navigating the document with mousewheel causes the same issue.

    12 replies

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    B
    Community Expert
    Bobby HendersonCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    October 27, 2025

    Is GPU Acceleration turned on in Illustrator? It might be worth checking mouse settings in Windows' OS settings (under the Bluetooth & devices category).

     

    Generally I find mouse wheel performance for zooming or scrolling to be a bit choppy, not just in Illustrator, but also in other graphics applications. In Illustrator I prefer using the Ctrl+Spacebar keyboard shortcut to bring up the Zoom tool and then click-drag the left mouse button to smoothly zoom the view in or out. That shortcut and the spacebar key for the hand tool allows me to fine tune the view of my work. GPU acceleration has to be enabled for animated zoom to work.

    Abhishek Rao
    Community Manager
    Abhishek RaoCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    October 27, 2025

    Hi @pietrob51238225,

     

    Thanks for reporting this. Could you please confirm the version of Illustrator and your OS details? It would also help to know if the lag occurs with all files or only specific ones, and whether you notice any improvement when testing in a new blank document. Please also try running your system in Safe Mode to rule out any third-party interference.

    Windows: Start your PC in Safe Mode
    macOS: Start up your Mac in Safe Mode

    If possible, share a short screen recording showing the lag so I can review it further.

     

    Looking forward to your update.
    Abhishek

    P
    pietrob51238225Author
    Participating Frequently
    October 27, 2025

    Hello,

     

    Thanks for the reply.

    Illustrator 2026, v30.0, OS Win 11 v 24h2, build SO 26100.6899

     

    The issue persists on blank new documents created in the illustrator version mentioned above, as well as in documents created in previous versions, in safe mode and with illustrator preferences reset to default.

      7
      79778542
      Participating Frequently
      October 31, 2025

      Hi @pietrob51238225,

       

      Thanks for confirming those details. Could you please try disabling GPU Performance from Preferences > Performance and see if that improves the mouse wheel response? If there’s no change, please share a short screen recording of the lag, so I can check it further with the team.

       

      Looking forward to your update.

      Abhishek


      Hi, I can confirm the issue.
      I’m experiencing the same problem with Illustrator 2026 on Windows 11 Pro 24H2, build 26100.6899. My system is a new build with 64 GB RAM, an AMD Ryzen 7 9700X, and an RTX 5070 Ti, so I'd expect performance to be good.

       

      Following your suggestion, disabling GPU performance does resolve the lag, but at the cost of noticeably degraded zoom performance overall, which doesn’t seem like a reasonable workaround. Besides, Illustrator 2025 performs perfectly on the same machine, so this really looks like an issue introduced in Illustrator 2026.

       

      I’ve attached a screen recording showing the lag on an empty file. As you can see, the zoom level changes erratically because the entire Illustrator UI freezes, causing zoom-ins and zoom-outs as it struggles to catch up with my scroll wheel actions.

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