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Curing Illustrator Ills: Resetting Preferences
Don’t let a corrupted preferences file in Illustrator slow you down! Here’s how to fix them and get back to work fast.
Don’t let a corrupted preferences file in Illustrator slow you down! Here’s how to fix it and get back to work fast.
It’s happened to anyone who has used Illustrator for any length of time. You’re working along and all of a sudden something doesn’t work right. It might be that Illustrator doesn’t do what you expect when you press a modifier key, a tool won’t work, or any one of a dozen irritations. Usually a corrupted preferences file is the cause of these problems. Here’s how to fix it so you can get back to work.
Macintosh
Save your work and close Illustrator. Open the Finder and then go to Go > Home > Preferences. Look for a folder called Adobe Illustrator CS2 settings (or your version of Illustrator). In the folder is a file called Adobe Illustrator Prefs. Drag this file to the trash. Empty the trash and restart Illustrator. Reset any custom preferences you want, and when you close Illustrator the preferences file will be regenerated.
You can also reset Illustrator’s preferences by holding down Shift + Command + Option + Control while opening the program. If you will get a dialog asking if you want to delete the settings folder, say yes. Restart Illustrator. Reset any custom preferences you want, and when you close Illustrator the preferences file will be regenerated.
Illustrator CS 2 allows you to save custom workspaces. Note that while this procedure resets the program preferences in Illustrator CS2 to defaults, it doesn’t change the Workspace preferences, which are stored in a different file. To reset the workspace, go to Window > Workspace > Default, or choose one of your saved workspaces.
Windows
Save your work and close Illustrator. Double click on My Computer on your desktop and open C:>Documents and Settings > User >Application Data > Adobe > Adobe Illustrator CS2 Settings. (Your version of Illustrator will be in the foldr name.) Inside this folder is a file called AIPrefs. Drag this file to the trash, and restart Illustrator. Reset any custom preferences you want, and when you close Illustrator the preferences file will be regenerated.
You can also reset Illustrator’s preferences by holding down Shift + Control + Alt while launching the program. If you get a dialog asking if you want to delete the Adobe Illustrator settings folder, click yes to proceed. Restart Illustrator. Reset any custom preferences you want, and when you close Illustrator the preferences file will be regenerated.
Illustrator CS 2 allows you to save custom workspaces. Note that while this procedure resets the program preferences in Illustrator CS2 to defaults, it doesn’t change the Workspace preferences, which are stored in a different file. To reset the workspace, go to Window > Workspace > Default, or choose one of your saved workspaces.
This quick trick fixes many Illustrator problems and annoyances in just a few minutes.
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A quicker way to get back to work is once you’ve reset all your custom preferences (including any third party extension serial numbers) is to save a copy of the clean preference file somewhere else on your hard drive or on a CD. Then when Illy goes nuts, simply close Illy, copy/paste a clean copy of your custom prefs over the old prefs, and restart illy. MUCH faster.
I have faced too many a times when; as I was saving a file, it seems as if it is WAS saving the file; but later the application seems to be ‘Not Responding’. And when I tried to open the last save version of that particular file; the file is ‘damaged and could not be repaired.’
Is there any way to fix the file and to prevent this from happening?
Resetting the preferences did not help in my case. Another solution when copy/paste and opening files slows down, is to change what printer is set as default. If it is a network printer that is not available, this is going to cause problems.
people…once a file is corrupt…forget it….being in AD/Design game i found that my butt was against the wall tooooooooooo many times with the corruption factor in Illustrator CS2….the BEST THING is to
always save the same file that you are working in Illustrator to save it as a PDF file and store it in the same place you store the original file…therefore, you can always open the PDF again in illustrator again and save as AI or eps file…now you just saved your butt but having your file to work on agiain…believe me this is the only cure!!!!
Is anyone else having issues using the key commands on start up of Illustrator to reset preferences? Am I not holding them long enough. Do I push them first? Do I push them after I start launching? Please help!
They do appear to work for me, though I don’t get any dialog box that says I’m resetting preferences. I’m on a Mac so I hold Shift-Opt-Cmd-Ctrl immediately upon starting up Illustrator, and it launches normally except my preferences are back to default settings afterwards. PS to Mac users: if you launch from the Finder dock and hold the buttons before the launch, the Finder will throw up the little menu above the dock icon since you’re holding Ctrl. You can click the dock icon without holding the buttons and press them immediately afterwards.
DESIGNORATI
If those directions didn’t work for you (as they didn’t for me), here’s mine: http://forums.adobe....sage/2133838#2133838
Instructions based on my experience - Illy CS4 on the Mac.
1. Close Illy.
2. Open Finder and go to:
(main > users >) home > Library > Preferences > Adobe Illustrator CS4 Settings > en_US
3. Rename the “en_US” folder to anything else.
4. Start Illy.
5. The “en_US” folder will be generated fresh. You can copy individual bits back from your copy and see if your problems return. (I moved my Workspace and Keyboard Shortcuts back).
That’s what it is for me. Of course if you have a different version of Illy or you aren’t in the US, or you aren’t on a Mac, it’ll be different. I’m guessing that’s easy enough to figure out.
Also, if you want you can just trash the “Adobe Illustrator Prefs” file in “en_US”.
I tried trashing the preferences for AICS2, but it did not solve my problem. I keep getting an error when saving “an unknown error has occurred”. I tried re-installing AI and I am still getting the error. Any help with this?
DONT FORGET TO RESTAR AFTER DOING THAT! OTHERWISE WONT WORK! Cheers!