Text Glitch

[Monica5F88]

Hi all, 

I have a text glitching issue that has been occuring recently.

It has happened multiple times, on my home and work computer, on different documents, with different typefaces/fonts. 

Say I have a textbox with text, I highlight one line of text - for example, the first line of text, to apply some changes to font weight for a subheading perhaps... The change may be applied okay, but the NEXT line of text, NOT highlighted, turns into a mess of symbols/glyphs, with negative tracking applied so the characters overlap. NOTE It is not an issue with me selecting incorrectly due to a baseline shift, the entire document may have no baseline shift applied. No matter what I do, I cannot stop this occurring once this 'glitch' kicks in. If I then highlight a different line of text, the one below IT that isn't highlighted starts taking on new parametres...  

Sometimes, the text stays in the intended characters, but becomes bigger, bolder with each letter overlapping so it's unreadable.

If I then highlight the glitched text, and open the fonts in the character menu to see what happens if a different font is applied, the results are very varied! The changes are previewed on my text in live time as I hover over a font, some revert back to the way the text should be, some add glyphs/symbols to the highlighted text, some will just add the negative tracking, but increase the weight/size as well, Some add the glitched changes to that line of highlighted text AS WELL AS the next handful of characters. The glyphs and symbols are NOT the same from font to font as the fonts are applied while in the character menu.

Also note, that when highlighting 'glitched' text the parametres in the character menu are correct to what the type SHOULD be, even though it isn't appearing correctly. It is very inconsistent, this glitch may just pop up after hours of work without any issue. 

So, My program is up to date. I have tried multiple reboots, which may slow down the glitch, but it will eventually re-occur. I have tried resetting preferences, I've switched off missing glyph and GPU... as seen in other posts with people having text glitches... nothing is really preventing this, and it's making me crazy!

Appreciate ANY insight!

Let me know your thoughts x

[creative explorer]

@Monica5F88 that souds like a font cache issue. Try clearing your system font cache. You can either go through the Terminal Mode or Safe Mode... Terminal can be a 'scary' because you can also do more damaged. FYI, I am working on a MAC, so not sure if you a PC.... 

For a MAC, I would restart in Safe Mode because it will automatically clears some system caches, including font caches. Shut down your Mac. Press the power button, and immediately press and hold the Shift key. Release the Shift key when you see the login screen. You should see "Safe Boot" or "Safe Mode" in the top right corner of the screen. Log in to your user account. The Mac will perform a Safe Boot, which rebuilds the font cache. This is most important, after logging in, restart your Mac normally (without holding Shift). This second restart ensures all caches are rebuilt correctly.

[Monica5F88]

@Abhishek Rao  and @creative explorer , Thank you so much for taking the time to help me with my issue - I truly appreciate it. In all my years, this is the first time I've had to reach out because I can't overcome my problem by troubleshooting, so sincerely - thanks 🙂

I am on PC, version 29.8.1. I have cleared the font cache as suggested, and hoping that solves my problem. I do agree that it sounds like a font problem - not a AI problem. Fingers crossed I can proceed problem-free. I will grab screen shots if my issue reoccurs. Thanks again, cheers ~ Mon

[Monica5F88]

@Abhishek Rao  and @creative explorer , It happened again, since clearing the font cache this morning.

Here's a quick run down: I have a couple lines of area text in a textbox that I have selected using the black arrow. (the text is not highlighted with the type tool). I reduce the width of the textbox, which re-distributes the lines of text to fit the new width - I am observing this re-distribution while I click and drag, then as I lift my mouse button to apply the new width change the text changes to become glitchy. Here's a screen grab of the text before and after this process:

(NOTE: as I write this, I think that this issue may only be occuring to text that I have a bullet point at the beginning of- but I cannot confirm this 100%.) This text is ROBOTO COND, the bullet point has been add as a glyph - rather than use the bullet point list function in the paragraph menu. 

[Monica5F88]

Additional Note:   

If I highlight a character that that has been converted, my character menu will tell me that it is still the same as the rest of the text - however it it clear that the font has changed as part of the converting-to-glyph glitching process. If I highlight a single character, and reference the glyph menu, it indicates that the character highlighted is as should be - i.e. it is not indicating that the character has ACTUALLY changed, only the visual/on-screen rendering has altered. If I go and resize the textbox and extend the width again to 'undo' the change without using the CTRL+Z undo function.... the text REVERTS to as it should be (correct characters, correct font etc.)

EXAMPLE:  the character highlighted is a "W" but displaying as a glyph. 

**Hope that my explanation describing what is happening is clear!!!***

[Monica5F88]

EDIT TO ADD: If I REMOVE bullet point, then resize the textbox the glitch DOES NOT occur - so this is directly related to the use of the inserted glyph. 

[Abhishek Rao]

Hi @Monica5F88,

Thank you for the detailed update and for confirming the behavior with the bullet points. Could you try using Illustrator's built-in bullet list feature instead of inserting bullet glyphs manually, and let me know if the glitch still persists?

It would also be really helpful if you could share a short screen recording showing the glitch while resizing the textbox with the glyphs. Please let me know how it goes.

Looking forward to your update.

Abhishek

[Monica5F88]

@Abhishek Rao 

Thanks again for helping with my issue.

The problem is not isolated to bullet points as initially thought... 

I have opened an older document this morning, and the only function I performed was resizing the area text box using the black arrow, and this glitch occurred straight away. Screen recording attached.

NOTE two fonts within this textbox are affected, IvyPresto Semibold (Adobe font) and Urbanist. This happens when using other fonts as well. There are no glyphs inserted into this text.

Keen for your thoughts. Happy to supply any other recording, information etc - appreciate your help!!

[Abhishek Rao]

Hi @Monica5F88,

Thanks a lot for sharing all the details and the screen recording, that was really helpful. I tested the same steps on my end with Windows 11 and Illustrator 29.8.1, and it seems to be working fine here. Could you please try enabling the GPU Performance preference and check if the issue still appears? Also, it would be great if you could confirm whether you are working on a laptop or a PC with an external screen attached. This will help me narrow things down further with the team.

Looking forward to your update.

Abhishek

[Abhishek Rao]

Hi @Monica5F88,

Thanks for sharing the detailed explanation of what you're experiencing. As the expert mentioned, this may be related to a font cache issue. Could you confirm the exact version of Illustrator you're using and whether you're on macOS or Windows? In the meantime, please try signing out and back into the Creative Cloud desktop app to force a sync. If the issue continues, try clearing the font cache using the steps in this article: https://adobe.ly/4pnuhsD.

If the problem still comes up after that, it would be really helpful if you could share a short screen recording of the behavior, so I can check it further.

Looking forward to your update.

Abhishek