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Illustrator unusably slow and laggy on macOS

New Here ,
Jun 14, 2018 Jun 14, 2018

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Some time in the last year, Illustrator (which previously worked just fine) has become unusably slow and laggy on my 2011 iMac. Anyone out there have solutions or work-arounds?

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correct answers 1 Correct answer

Community Beginner , Aug 19, 2018 Aug 19, 2018

I had the same problem in Illustrator CC 2018 22.1 and MacOS High Sierra 10.13.6.

I have a MacBook Pro 15 inch (2017), Intel i7 2.8 GHz, 16 GB RAM, Radeon Pro 555 2048 MB RAM.

I tried to reinstall without retaining preferences. I tried resetting preferences. Nothing worked.

Strangely enough, for me the solution was disabling the dictation feature of MacOS: Illustrator returned fast.

To confirm this, I tried to re-enable the dictation feature in System Preferences -> Keyboard -> Dictation: Illustrato

...

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Adobe
replies 159 Replies 159
Adobe Employee ,
Jul 04, 2019 Jul 04, 2019

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Thanks for sharing the information. Please try these steps and share your observations:

Reset Illustrator preferences manually.

  • Go to following locations
  • ~/Library/Caches
  • ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe
  • ~/Library/Preferences
  • Rename  Adobe Illustrator, com.adobe.illustrator and Adobe Illustrator 23 Settings folders to Adobe Illustrator.old, com.adobe.illustrator.old and Adobe Illustrator 23 Settings folders.old
  • Launch Illustrator from the Creative Cloud.
  • If that resolves the issue please move the old folders (Adobe Illustrator.old, com.adobe.illustrator.old and Adobe Illustrator 23 Settings folders.old) in a new folder on Desktop.
  • Zip the folder and upload it to the creative cloud and share the link with us.

All this information will help us reproduce the issue at our end.

Regards,

Srishti

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New Here ,
Aug 11, 2022 Aug 11, 2022

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SERIOUSLY? why do we have to jump through so many hoops to draw some simple vector shapes without lag - we are paying for this junk software. 

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Mentor ,
Aug 11, 2022 Aug 11, 2022

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If you are paying for it, update. 2019 is so... 2019...

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Community Beginner ,
Jul 27, 2019 Jul 27, 2019

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Thank you so much for this valuable tip. That is what was causing my Ai lag issues.

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Community Beginner ,
Nov 30, 2019 Nov 30, 2019

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I'm using a brand new iMac 3.0ghz, 6 core, 27". I finally broke down and started paying for cc specifically for this new computer, which replaced a 2011 model.

 

I can't do any kind of edit without a lag or spinny beachball.

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Community Beginner ,
Jan 19, 2020 Jan 19, 2020

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Thank you! I recently bought a brand new imac, very fast, and yet illustrator was unusably slow: using the pen tool took a second for each point, and clicking on a dropdown menu took several seconds for the menu to appear. I just turned off dication, and suddenly it seems like I can draw in illustrator! So weird. Maybe there should be an alert or something. Also, would be nice if this info came up more readily on a google search...This is about the 20th post I read on the subject, first with a real answer. Anyway, thanks!

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New Here ,
Mar 27, 2020 Mar 27, 2020

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Wow you're a lifesaver !!! Thank you !

- M.

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New Here ,
Jul 09, 2020 Jul 09, 2020

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When I turn off the dictation function on the Mac, the slow operation works normally.

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Explorer ,
Nov 11, 2020 Nov 11, 2020

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It seems like the 'Turn off Dictation' option worked for a lot of people here - I'm having this same laggy Illustrator problem on my up-to-date Mac, and Dictation is already turned off. The solution that worked for me was going into Illustrator > Preferences > Performance and checking the box labeled 'GPU performance' (and the sub box 'Animated Zoom'). Perhaps this setting is disabled by default? In any case, Illustrator is back to normal for me 🙂 Hope this helps someone out there. 

 

https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/kb/gpu-performance-preview-improvements.html

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Community Beginner ,
Feb 13, 2021 Feb 13, 2021

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So glad I found this thread. Immediate results on my unusable AI. While I don't work in AI much, I was puzzled when all of my other CC apps worked fine- but AI was at the point where it was unusable. This fix worked immediately.

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Adobe Employee ,
Jul 18, 2022 Jul 18, 2022

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Hi all,

 

We understand how frustrating the performance issues are. We have consolidated the most popular solutions that help fix these issues. Please check this help article for more details.

 

If you still need help, feel free to reach out. We'd be happy to help.

 

Regards,

Srishti

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New Here ,
Jan 28, 2022 Jan 28, 2022

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Illustrator has become almost impossible to use, I have the latest Macbook Pro (late 2021) with 32GB of memory and the files become extremely laggy after editing for a couple of minutes, the only solution is to close the program and re-open, but I need to do that at least 10 times a day, we are talking 1MB files... And I do have the latest Illustrator update, I have tried Illustrator 2021, but same issue

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Community Expert ,
Jan 28, 2022 Jan 28, 2022

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In the Finder, when you get info on the Illustrator app make sure Open using Rosetta is unchecked (if it's checked it won't perform as well).


— Adobe Certified Expert & Instructor at Noble Desktop | Web Developer, Designer, InDesign Scriptor

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New Here ,
Feb 10, 2022 Feb 10, 2022

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I'm afraid that didn't work out, I still have exactly the same problem. I updated to the latest version and still get the lag after editing any file for about half an hour... It would seem like a memory issue, except I have tons of it 

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Contributor ,
Oct 22, 2020 Oct 22, 2020

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Hello.

 

I recently updagreded to version 25.0 on my Macbook Pro. It's an unusable laggy pile of sh*te.

Running macOS Catalina 10.15.7, with a 3 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i7 processor, 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3. Intel Iris 1536 MB.

 

Yes, my machine is a few years old, but why should I have to drop £3K just to run Illustrator?

Software I've been using since version 5.0, with litle to no issues with performace on any system.

 

Is anybody else sick of this planned obsolescence? The amount of money I've spend on Apple and Adobe products during my career is enourmous.

 

Taking the p1ss.

 

 

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Community Expert ,
Oct 22, 2020 Oct 22, 2020

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Did you experience this change going from v24 to 25, or an older version?

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Contributor ,
Oct 22, 2020 Oct 22, 2020

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I noticed a deterioation in performance with previous upgrades, but it's fallen off a cliff with this latest version.

 

It can take 3-4 seconds for tools to select objects. Cursor jumps, unselected objects being moved. Totally unusable.

 

Gutted.

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Contributor ,
Oct 22, 2020 Oct 22, 2020

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I'm on a deadline atm, so forgive the ranting and typos. I'll try and read up on any issues later.

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Community Beginner ,
Dec 17, 2020 Dec 17, 2020

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The last 3 or 4 versions have been utter trash.

I have almost 3 times the RAM I had in college using AI and somehow it runs worse than it ever has.

My IT ordered Adobe's recommended graphics card, and I still have graphical glitches galore and a 20 basic shape canvas that takes 3 seconds to adjust a point on. Absolutely ridiculous.

My job has been miserable the last few years having to work in this polished turd day after day. It used to be such a great app, but what it has become is a joke. A million new features and I can't even undo reliably anymore. Ridiculous.

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New Here ,
Oct 23, 2020 Oct 23, 2020

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Experiencing a similar issue myself. I always stay up-to-date, so I just moved from the previous 24.? to 25.0 this morning. I can't even open Illustrator anymore. It just lags and doesn't respond, then crashes altogether. I've uninstalled and reinstalled, restarted my Mac, removed old drivers, etc. Nada. I'm on a tight deadline as well and this sure as hell isn't helping.

 

MacOS Mojave, Version 10.14.6; 2.3 Ghz Intel Core i9; 16GB 2400 MHz DDR4; Radeon Pro 560X 4GB; Intel UHD Graphics 630 1536MB.

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Explorer ,
Oct 23, 2020 Oct 23, 2020

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I'm also having issues with latency in Illustrator v25.0 
There is literally a 2 second delay to anything I do, whether I am moving/scaling an object, panning the screen, etc. It all adds up and has become a huge time suck.
I am running a Mac Pro 2019 OS Catalina 10.15.7
3.3 GHz 12-core processor, 32 GB memory, 8 GB GPU.
There is no reason Illustrator should be running this slow.

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LEGEND ,
Oct 23, 2020 Oct 23, 2020

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Hi @Will Price & @jfi0rin0 

Sorry to hear about your experience. Please try resetting preferences of the Illustrator and let us know if it helps. You may follow the instructions below to do that:

  • Close all Adobe applications. 
  • Go to locations 
  • ~/Library/Caches 
  • ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe 
  • ~/Library/Preferences 
  • Rename  Adobe Illustrator, com.adobe.illustrator and Adobe Illustrator 25 Settings folders to  Adobe Illustrator.old, com.adobe.illustrator.old and Adobe Illustrator 25 Settings.old 
  • Launch Illustrator from the Creative Cloud. 

 

 **Please note that resetting preferences will remove all the custom settings and Illustrator will launch with default settings. This way all your old settings will be saved in .old folders and Illustrator will recreate new folders with default settings.

 

@zachstroeher Please try following instructions given on this help article & let us know how it goes.

 

Regards,

Ashutosh

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Explorer ,
Oct 26, 2020 Oct 26, 2020

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Hi Ashutosh,
I've started changing the names of the folders as instructed, however I don't see one for the location under ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe. There are two folders for Adobe Illustrator 24 & 25. Do I rename one of these?
Screen Shot 2020-10-26 at 8.22.14 AM.png

Thank you,

Jared

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Explorer ,
Oct 26, 2020 Oct 26, 2020

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None of these options seemed to work. I've uninstalled Illustrator v.25 and reinstalled it. Now when I open a document, the moment I click on any objrect the entire workspace turns white or blue, making all of my objects invisble. This version of Illustrator is completely unusable being that it is plagued with bugs. I am reintalling Illustrator v.24 until Adobe can work these issues out.

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New Here ,
Jan 26, 2021 Jan 26, 2021

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Thank you for this note. It helps get the software running again. However, after using the software for a few sessions the sluggishness comes back, causing me to have to trash all the preferences files again.  I can't emphasize enought that is not a solution! I have my preferences dialed in for my productivity (workspaces, in particular). Rebuilding these (or pulling them from the deleted folders and replacing them in the new structure) immediately brings back the problem. 

 

My dear Adobe friends, defects like these are to be expected from time to time. This is complex software you are developing. But it seems like, these days, problems aren't getting get addressed in a timely matter (This thread goes back to October and here we are at the end of January still strugglign with this). I've been giving you money for decades to help me be a fluid creator... but now these defects inhibiting my productivity and creativity.

 

Please address this. 

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