Undo Doesn't Work, Also Having Save Issues.

[ArtrociTeigh]

I’ve been having an issue with Adobe Illustrator for 4 days now. I contacted tech support and haven't received any resolution.

My “Undo” function has stopped working a common problem I've seen but it seems like no suggestion made in other threads fixes my issue. I can neither use Command + Z or Edit > Undo. Occasionally it’ll work, but I have no indication as to why it’ll allow me to undo one thing and then not let me undo something similar. It’s affecting my ability to do my job. I use the Pen Tool primarily and it won’t let me undo accidentally moved anchors or curved lines. It also won’t let me undo if I accidentally DELETE something. It’s extremely frustrating. (UPDATE: If I hold Command + Z down it'll undo things, but it's very rapid and is by no means a resolution to this issue for me lol! It's better than nothing though).

I have completely uninstalled Illustrator and Creative Cloud on both my computers (multiple times) with no results.

I installed an older version of Illustrator and no change but as an added bonus Illustrator started crashing constantly.

I’ve created a root profile on my Mac per the instructions of my previous technical support agent, with no success.

I’ve tried changing things from static to dynamic shapes/symbols as one forum suggested, but this doesn't really apply to the work that I do.

I’ve deleted and/or reset my Adobe Illustrator preferences as another forum/blog suggested.

None of this has resolved the issue!

My recent updates for my Mac were a security update on July 25^th and July 27^th I updated my Mac OS to Sierra in hopes that it might resolve something, but no luck. After downloading Sierra I reinstalled Illustrator to make sure there was no conflict. 

Adobe Illustrator also suddenly wouldn’t let me save my files after hours of saving files for web for my job. This is probably temporary, but after the amount of money I've lost this week due to this issue, I've given up for the time being.

[Monika Gause]

As for the saving issue:

- where do you save your files? network or hard disk?

- is a printer connected and turned on? If not, install one. If you don't have one, install a PDF printer.

- are all your fonts OK?

- how large is the file?

- what's in the file?

- does that happen with any file? also newly created ones?

- how is the recovery function set up?

- does it work when you turn it off?

- how much space is left on your hard disk?

- how much RAM is installed?

- how much free RAM?

- does Illustrator work when you turn off all other applications?

[ArtrociTeigh]

As for the saving issue:

- where do you save your files? network or hard disk?

- is a printer connected and turned on? If not, install one. If you don't have one, install a PDF printer.

I think I figured out this simply has to do with my RAM usage. I'm trying to not run things while I use AI. I'll see if that helps resolve it.

- are all your fonts OK?

I haven't made any font changes recently so I assume so. I do have downloaded fonts, but these have been on my device for months.

- how large is the file?

157,012,009 bytes (157 MB on disk)

- what's in the file?

Many, many layers, clipped areas, symbols, and path/shapes.

- does that happen with any file? also newly created ones?

I have not tested this extensively, but it does not appear to be an issue with brand new/blank files.

- how is the recovery function set up?

I completely turn it off since it's such a large file I get those GPU usage messages up top if I don't.

- does it work when you turn it off?

Nope, still likes to be annoying.

- how much space is left on your hard disk?

I have 384.28 GB of HD space left. I'm probably using about 1/4 of my HD.

- how much RAM is installed?

16 GB

- how much free RAM?

This one is tricky because I have Chrome open at the moment, Finder, etc. But at this moment I only have 4 GB of RAM.

- does Illustrator work when you turn off all other applications?

Do you mean as in Photoshop (CC apps) or like Chrome/Finder. This I haven't tested yet, but I will do so and see.

Thank you so much for asking all these questions! It has helped me to address key areas of the issue I think.

[Monika Gause]

Glad you could isolate it.

I hope this turns out to be a permanent fix.

[ArtrociTeigh]

I'm still having trouble with the Undo, not working, but no more problems with saving.

[Monika Gause · Accepted solution]

Undo is very closely related to the amount of RAM you have installed.

Is that an older computer? Have you ever checked if that RAM is OK technically?

Also it would still be good to know if other (smaller) files work. Especially newly created ones.

Scratch disk is set up in Preferences?

[ArtrociTeigh]

I tried to set the Scratch Disk up but then Illustrator wouldn't open, lol!

I'm going to look into seeing if my RAM is ok because this was rather sudden, but I do believe it has to do with the RAM.

I've had the computer since 2014, so it's fairly old, but for a Mac - which holds up well I must say - it has had no issues since I bought it.

Thank you for helping me with this!