Highlighted input values not visible in Character panel in Illustrator when Dark Mode is on in macOS

[Jeremy AB]

Just noticed this recently... when Dark Mode on macOS Big Sur is enabled, click in a palette field and then tab to the next field. It's now completely white, so you can't read the text. So any highlighted field in a palette becomes unreadable. This goes away if Dark Mode in macOS is turned off. Illustrator's interface darkness has no affect on this bug.

{Renamed by MOD}

[Anshul_Saini]

Hi there,

Sorry about the trouble and delayed response. Could you please share a few more details like:

• The version of macOS & Illustrator
• Is this only happening in the Character panel, or do other panels also not showing input values when highlighted?
• Does resetting Illustrator Preferences (https://helpx.adobe.com/in/illustrator/using/setting-preferences.html) help to resolve the issue?
  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 your resposne.

Thanks & Regards,

Anshul Saini

[Jeremy AB]

Hello. macOS Big Sur 11.4 and latest version of Illustrator. Deleting prefs makes no difference. It appears to be a visual glitch only when macOS dark mode is turned on. It's not just the Character panel. I only picked that one as a screenshot example. However, at this moment the problem isn't happening so there must be something else that's triggering it. If I figure that out I will post here.

[John.H.S]

I have exactly the same problem. Did you manage to figure out what causes this and how to fix it? Would appreciate any feedback you can give. Thanks.

[Jeremy AB]

The only thing I know is it happens with macOS dark mode turned on. But the problem has gone away for me now. I don't know why.

[John.H.S]

Thanks for the prompt reply. Yes, I have macOS dark mode turned on as well so will try and live with the issue or turn off dark mode. 

[John.H.S · Accepted solution]

The problem appears to be with the Accent and Highlight colour settings that can be changed in System Preferences/General. When these are changed from the default colour (graphite) then any highlighted text within Illustrator is then visible again. See image attached. It's now working fine for me so I hope this solves the problem for anyone else who finds the same issue/glitch. Thanks for your help with this.

[Jeremy AB]

Ahh kudos to you! I just tried it and that's exactly it! I had changed my color to orange so that's why it went away.

[Harry5C3F]

Thanks so much for posting this - that has been driving me crazy!!