Fix Illustrator Crashes

Experiencing crashes in Illustrator can be devastating, but there are several troubleshooting steps you can try to resolve the issue. Here are some suggestions to help fix Illustrator crashes:

  1. Update Illustrator: Make sure you have the latest version of Adobe Illustrator installed on your computer. Updates often include bug fixes and performance improvements that can address crashing issues.
  2. Check system requirements: Verify that your computer meets the minimum system requirements for running Illustrator. If your hardware is below the recommended specifications, it may struggle to handle the application, leading to crashes.
  3. Disable third-party plugins: Temporarily disable any third-party plugins or extensions you have installed in Illustrator. Sometimes, conflicts between plugins and Illustrator can cause crashes. If the crashes stop after disabling the plugins, you can re-enable them one by one to identify the problematic one.
  4. Reset preferences: Like Photoshop, Illustrator preferences can occasionally become corrupted, leading to crashes. Resetting the preferences to their default settings can often resolve this issue. To reset preferences, hold down the Command+Option+Shift keys while launching Illustrator. You should see a prompt asking if you want to delete the Illustrator settings file. Confirm and proceed with the reset. If that didn’t work see step 5 or 6.
  5. Rest the Preferences from the: Open Illustrator and from Illustrator menu select Preferences>General or when Illustrator is open press Command+K to open the Preferences window and then click Reset Preferences, close the window and click Restart Illustrator to relaunch the application.
  6. Delete Illustrator Preferences and Caches:
    • Close Adobe Illustrator if it is open.
    • Open Finder.
    • In the menu bar, click on “Go” and then select “Go to Folder.” or press Command+Shift+G
    • Type the following path into the “Go to Folder” window and click “Go” ~/Library/Preferences/Adobe Illustrator [version] Settings (Replace “[version]” with the specific version of Illustrator you are using, e.g., “22” for Illustrator 2021).
    • In the folder that opens, you will see a file named “Adobe Illustrator [version] Prefs” (e.g., “Adobe Illustrator 2021 Prefs”). This file stores your Illustrator preferences.
    • Delete the “Adobe Illustrator [version] Prefs” file. If you are concerned about losing your preferences, you can also consider renaming it to something like “Adobe Illustrator [version] Prefs_old” instead.
    • Close the folder.
    • Repeat step 3 but this time type in ~/Library/Application Support/
    • Delete Adobe Illustrator [version] folders and empty the trash.
    • Once again press Command+Shift+G and type ~/Library/Caches/ find com.adobe.illustrator folder and delete it, empty the trash and open Illustrator.
  7. Repair or reinstall Illustrator: If the above steps didn’t help, you can try repairing or reinstalling Illustrator. In some cases, the installation files may have become corrupted, causing crashes. You can use the Adobe Creative Cloud app to repair or uninstall/reinstall Illustrator.

Remember to save your work frequently to avoid data loss in case of crashes.