Maybe a top-10 Illustrator tip ever...

[rickwtexas]

I've posted before about the outrageous amount of time it takes to save complicated .ai files (and the size of them, plus the insane size of a default pdf)... well, here is a simple work-around on the save time: Before saving, lock some small, simple item and hide the rest of the document (or hide all). Now SAVE. Reveal all when thats done and continue on. Illustrator will only save a small amount of preview data to the file (guessing ai saves a complete plus all the pdf data, but only based on the amount of elements on screen). All the important is saved, so don't worry about losing anything.

I have a newsletter I'm working on, the difference was 6 seconds versus 25 seconds.

If you are like me and are working at high-speed all day long, on up to 15+ projects at a time, this time saver adds up. If you work on one job a week at an big agency, you won't care about this. Go back to shooting hoops and riding a hover board around the office - some of us have things to do )

[Monika Gause]

If you don't need the PDF part of the file, just uncheck the PDF option.

This will reduce file size and speed up saving.

[rickwtexas]

Can't do that, every file I create is heading to pdf proofs for client, then eventually a high-res proof. If I turn off pdf compatibility ai creates a blank (worthless pdf). Even if you turn that back on you have to quit ai and reopen to get a correct pdf again (and sometimes it doesn't take the first time). If you have as many projects in the works as I do that just doesn't work to do that many, many, many times a day. I have 23 docs working today for example.

[S_Gans]

Hmmm... cool idea, if speed is the main intention - especially as you're creating and saving and editing and saving. That's a big time-saver idea!

Of course, I also - in the end - want my full previews, etc, so for the final product, I'd do the full save.

OTOH, since it IS during production time, it seems to me Monika's suggestion'd work too - as long as one turned on PDF compatibility for the end product. The only holdback seems to be that bug you mention about it maybe not working the first time...