Mike: I was wondering if you were using a NAS drive. I've never used a Synology NAS, but do you know how to find out the type of file system that's being used on the drives you've installed into it? I'm sure that there's a way to find out through the web-based management app (I just have never used it so I couldn't tell you). If it has a bash shell, you can ssh into it from your Mac's terminal:

ssh <<NAS_User_Name>>@<<NAS_IP_Addr>>

and run the command:

sudo fdisk -l

That'll list all of your partitions and tell you the file system types they use. I wonder if Illustrator is getting confused, expecting to see a file system like the one your local machine when it's saving to the remote drive but finding something different. I don't really know.

If you were running Windows I could offer you a fairly easy workaround in the form of a batch script setup in Task Scheduler that uses Robocopy to move your .ai files upon saving them. Sadly, *nix systems, like OSX, don't have Robocopy, but they do have rsync ( https://rsync.samba.org/ ) so you can probably do the same thing (I don't use a Mac, but I'd imagine it has something like Task Scheduler to easily set up the triggers). If you want to go this route (and seeing how quick Adobe is at fixing these sort of issues I'd definitely advise you to do so) but you feel a little out of your depth, check on StackExchange or a related freenode IRC channel; I'm sure you're not the first person who has done this, so there's likely pre-written scripts out there that'll do this with little modification.

I'm using a Mac and a Synology NAS. Illustrator takes an eternity to do anything when it comes to the network. Opening or saving any file type with Illustrator is slow. But everything else is okay.

It seems the general sentiment about all Adobe software is "please spend time on improving performance and reliability".

I have had to do more system restarts to get Adobe software running than ever before. The reliability and performance is definitely not what it used to be.

I find it quite insulting that Adobe's recommendation to deal with slow performance is "use a faster CPU". I used a 2006 MacBook until 2015. I was using fairly old versions of Adobe software but it was fast and reliable. But my job changed and I had people sending me files from the later versions so had to upgrade.

I bought a high spec MacBook and the latest Adobe software. I didn't see a performance increase and it has been getting worse. The reliability is also questionable. Like I said earlier, I have to restart the computer mostly when I am using Adobe software.

Adobe software is not cheap. The features in most of their software are generally making them leaders in the respective categories BUT it's SLOW and can be unreliable. So, Adobe, please invest time in the performance of your software.

Mike: Elaborate a bit on your problem. I just did a test by saving a 435KB PDF to local storage and to a network attached drive and didn't notice much of a difference. Let me ask, what operating systems are you using on both machines and what type of file systems are you using for your local system drive (the drive that AI is installed), the remote system drive and the remote save drive (if the remote machine uses more than one). I've set up my network to only use NTFS drives as my primary machine runs Windows - an Ubuntu file server I run does use LVM on its system drive but I don't allow remote access to that for security reasons so I can't really test to see if it's an issue with cross-file-system saving. Also, try and see how long Illustrator takes to save an .ai file on the network.

Regarding the comment on saving over a network being slow. There's a feature request to save locally first and then automatically copy over the network. Please upvote if you feel:
https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657-illustrator-feature-requests/suggestions/33632515-better-performance-over-networks-by-automatically

Saving a PDF to a network drive takes an eternity on my computer. A 100Kb PDF can take about 30 seconds to save and bigger files take longer. A 400Kb photoshop file saves to the exact same location in a few milliseconds. Something is wrong with the way Illustrator works with the file system.

I know what you mean, just returned my macbook late 2009 to OSX Snow Leopard and CS6 just because it is no longer usable with the newer OS and apps. I have lost something I have gained my machine back...

Yes you are right Nikolas on that part but from what i know new drivers,BIOS, or OS updates are throttling the hardware and the excuse are fake vulnerabilities.
I work with iPhones and i was first who told to people that apple throttle the old models with updates so people buy new ones, same method is used everywhere cause they are profitable artificial problems.

Filip there is no OS limitation, Windows and OSX both provide the means for multithreading.
OSX have grand central dispatch and Windows have the same tech with a name that I don't recall.

Actually a lot of competitive apps already have multithreading and use at least 50% of my 6 core system, while most of the time they go as high as 80-100% usage (in pdf export for example).

The only limitation is adobe software, they need to restart and write from scratch getting rid of that behemoth from the nineties that they still develop.

This is nothing compared with PADS Layout that software cost around 7000$ and it glitch like a soft from 1995, it is possible this is also a OS limitation in kernel or throttle on purpose to slow down the work.

Please, Adobe! Speed it up!!

It is unthinkable that a young software like Affinity Designer is better in many, many, aspects compared to a historical software like ILLUSTRATOR.
You notice the speed and reliability and accuracy of Affinity.
- Better CPU, Ram and GPU exploitation ...
- Better snap on the tracks and maximum precision of the design.
- Management of larger drawing boards, Huge !!
- Opening of a vast number of files (eg freehand, coreldraw etc.)
- Quick management of the paginated (AI stops every two seconds)
- Lighter files
and I could go on ...

ADOBE WAKE UP !!!

I don't thing the corporations are interested in speeding up your work cause the more and slow you work the more you will remain subscribed to suck from you money, with latest updates from different manufactures related to those vulnerabilities (forgot their names) our PC's are getting slower but in reality those are not vulnerability but artificial problems created on purpose so we buy new hardware.

If anyone is in any doubt as to whether this is possible, bring up a CPU performance monitor and then try opening a large file in Affinity Designer. Zoom in and out, move things around, keeping an eye on activity across the CPU cores as you do so...

Hmmmmm, Adobe?

My manager "upgraded" to a Mac that should have technically performed better than his old Macbook from pre2011 did on Illustrator, except, it ended up being just as bad. After that, and one upgrade cycle, we ordered the next range of iMacs that were much better than his "latest" mac, and should have performed better with Illustrator. They do not.

Thinking it was an Apple issue, but after reading this it is obvious where the problem is.

Looking at Adobe's virtual monopoly, there's the proof that competition drives innovation.

No real competition = Adobesaurus.

Yes please, rewrite the whole program if you have to. It is not like it is cheap or free. We need tools that work with our hardware, we can't afford both adobe suite and upgrading our systems every year because illustrator fail to utilize more cores.

Last post in August. Now Intel's 8th generation CPUs with even more cores are out. There is so much competition right now to enhance computing power - cloud based rendering, CUDA and whatnot. And Adobe has... ANIMATED TOOL TIPS

And please, lovely people here, don't call professional software like PS, Ai or ID "apps", Adobe might think you talk about their mobile substitutes they wasted all our CC subscription money on.

I'll just add my thoughts while I wait for beachballing Illustrator to finish what it's doing. Please focus on core Illustrator like multi-core processing instead of animated tooltips Adobe!

Competition will go ahead. fix this over a not usable stupid puppet wrap

I couldn't agree more. The performance of Illustrator is horrendous. I have a feeling it's due to the program's dated Postscript roots, but I'm not an developer so that's just an educated guess. I think that for this to work they'll have to rebuild Illustrator from the ground up - if that's the case, I'd normally say, "cut them a break" but with the premium price tag on their software Adobe really has no excuse at this point. Just comparing the performance between Illustrator and Serif's Affinity Designer really shows Illustrator's age. If Adobe hasn't already begun working on this they shouldn't be surprised if they start loosing customers in droves in the coming years.

@adriana, since I don’t do video work and primarily 2D design work, I went with the best iMac that I could. With the top i7 processor, 32 GB of RAM, a 1 TB SSD, I was in the $3500 range. The base iMac Pro starts at $5000.

Depending on what apps you use. I use Adobe XD as much as I use Illustrator. It’s amazing how much faster and smoother XD is.

Also, I bought mine from expercom.com. I upgraded the RAM through them and saved a ton of money, FWIW.