Adobe Illustrator Keeps Crashing or Freezing

How to fix it

Try these in order — the most common fix is first.

1. 1. Update Illustrator and your graphics driver

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   1. Open Creative Cloud desktop > Updates, or Help > Updates inside Illustrator
   2. Install the newest Illustrator build
   3. Download the latest driver straight from NVIDIA, AMD or Intel; Windows sometimes installs an older generic driver that causes errors (one user fixed a GPU error by moving from an auto-installed Intel driver to a newer one)
   Did this fix it? Yes No

2. 2. Run in Safe Mode and reset preferences

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   1. Restart the computer, open Illustrator and choose Run Diagnostics if prompted, then Safe Mode
   2. In Illustrator open Edit > Reset Preferences (Illustrator > Settings on Mac) and restart
   3. Alternatively hold Ctrl+Alt+Shift (Windows) or Cmd+Option+Shift (Mac) while launching to reset preferences
   Did this fix it? Yes No

3. 3. Remove plug-ins and bad fonts

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   1. Move third-party plug-ins out of the Illustrator Plug-ins folder and relaunch
   2. If the crash happens only on one file, use Type > Find Font and replace fonts, or disable recently installed fonts
   Did this fix it? Yes No

4. 4. Turn on recovery data and save safely

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   1. Edit > Preferences > File Handling & Clipboard (Ctrl+K)
   2. Tick Automatically Save Recovery Data Every, pick an interval (not too short on large files) and a folder
   3. Work on files on your internal drive rather than a network or cloud-synced folder
   Did this fix it? Yes No

5. 5. Roll back a bad update

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   1. In Creative Cloud desktop open the three-dot menu next to Illustrator > Other versions
   2. Install the previous version if crashes began right after an update, and wait for a fix
   Did this fix it? Yes No

Symptoms

Illustrator quits unexpectedly on launch, while drawing, or on save; the window freezes and unsaved work is lost.

Why it happens

• Corrupted preferences file
• Third-party plug-ins or scripts
• Outdated or automatically installed GPU drivers
• A recent Illustrator 30.x update with a regression
• Very large or complex documents with many effects, meshes or linked images
• Fonts that are damaged

This guide also covers

• illustrator keeps crashing
• illustrator crashes on startup
• illustrator not responding
• illustrator crashing after update
• illustrator freezes

The same problem in other apps

All crashes, freezes & blank screens guides →

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• Illustrator "Not Enough Memory (RAM)" Error
• Illustrator GPU Performance Error and "Not Enough GPU Memory"
• Why Is Adobe Illustrator So Slow and Laggy?
• Illustrator "File Is Damaged" or Can't Open AI File
• Illustrator Crashes or Errors When Saving
• Illustrator Missing Fonts Warning
• Illustrator Export Not Working or Export Fails