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Om Nath Jha
Om Nath Jha
Brainiac
September 12, 2019
Question

How to reset Illustrator Preferences

  • September 12, 2019
  • 4 replies
  • 65940 views
Backup and Reset Illustrator Preferences on Windows Backup and Reset Illustrator Preferences on macOS

 

To restore preferences quickly using a keyboard shortcut

 

Press and hold Alt+Control+Shift (Windows) or Option+Command+Shift (macOS) as you start Illustrator. The new preferences files are created the next time you start Illustrator.

 

To manually restore preferences to default

Remove or rename the Adobe Illustrator Preferences file. When you restart Illustrator, a new preference file will be created in the original location.

 

Folder location:

macOS: <OSDisk>/Users/<username>/Library/Preferences/Adobe Illustrator <version number> Settings/en_US*/Adobe Illustrator Prefs

 

 

A simple way to access user library in Mac.

 

Windows: <OSDisk>\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator <version number> Settings\en_US*\x64\Adobe Illustrator Prefs

 

*If you need to keep a backup of the old Preferences, copy the folder to the desktop or simply rename it.

 

Here’s a help article with more details: https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/setting-preferences.html

    4 replies

    B
    Barbara24864902w3dz
    New Participant
    June 14, 2022

    The comand+option+shift on macOS WORKED PERFECTLY! Thank you! 

    M
    Mike_Schwabauer
    New Participant
    August 24, 2021

    Should command-option-shift at launch work for Illustrator 2021? I've been trying and it doesn't seem to. Or does it just reset without a dialog like Photoshop gives?

    Ton Frederiks
    Ton Frederiks
    Community Expert
    August 24, 2021

    Yes it should work, it does not give you a warning that it does.

    jim_parrillo
    jim_parrillo
    New Participant
    July 28, 2020

    Has the file folder names and location of this changed? I looked under

    <OSDisk>/Users/<username>/Library/Preferences/Adobe Illustrator <version number> Settings/en_US*/

    and there are three folders related to Illustrator (see below). It's strange because I only have version 24.2.1 installed, but it's still showing the old version "23 Settings" folder.

     

    In addition, the folder lstings / location are not as previously described.

     

      Bill Silbert
      Bill Silbert
      Community Expert
      September 16, 2019

      I always recommend that after trashing preferences and then resetting up the program as you like it, it is extremely helpful to make a copy of the new (pristine) preference file and store it somewhere handy. That way if ever you have a preference related problem and need to trash preferences you can simply substitute the corrupt file with (a copy of) the pristine one and all of your favorite settings are ready to go.

        Om Nath Jha
        Om Nath JhaAuthor
        Brainiac
        September 16, 2019
        That's indeed a great workflow Bill!
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