AI displays the START SCREEN on opening the file and the document view do not switches (refreshes) the file content.

v 22.1

When trying to open an existing file while Illustrator is closed, the software will lag and then hang on the opening screen. The file appears to be opened in the background, but there's no way to access or see it. The opening screen will give options to open additional files or create a new one (as usual) but when trying to do either, nothing will open and no New File Options menu will appear.

Everything will work normally only if I open Illustrator first and then the file.

This happens will every file I've tried, so this isn't an issue of corruption.

200 votes

VP shared this idea · Mar 14, 2018 · Report… · Admin →

Resolved (Comments Open) ·

AdminAnkit Goyal(Illustrator Team) (Admin, Adobe Illustrator) responded · Dec 10, 2019

Thank you all for reporting this issue and providing us your valuable feedback.

What we have found out so far is that this issue can happen in multiple workflows. For clear tracking, validation and closure. We will closing this thread for given below two scenarios which we believe are fixed now:

1)Double click any Ai file to launch Illustrator
2)Placing files in Illustrator via Bridge.

For two other scenarios that we know of that can cause this, we have created a separate thread :https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447-illustrator-bugs/suggestions/39220189-ai-displays-the-start-screen-on-opening-the-file-a .If you are encountering the below mentioned issues with latest Version (24.0.1 on Mac and Win), then please vote on newly provided User voice thread and provide Test File via File→Package, Video and steps via dropping email at sharewithai@adobe.com along with this thread link so that we can identify and fix the root cause.

1. On opening a file in Illustrator the START SCREEN do not gets dismissed and the file’s content is not visible.
2. While working on a file and opening a new one the document view sticks to the old file and do not switches to the new file artwork.

Please remember to update graphic driver. We are also seeing cases where updating graphic card driver fixes the issue. You can update your driver via https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/kb/illustrator-gpu-performance-driver-update.html .

With Best Regards,
Ankit Goyal
Illustrator Team

Show previous admin responses (7)

Need More Info ·

AdminAnkit Goyal(Illustrator Team) (Admin, Adobe Illustrator) responded · Nov 4, 2019

Hi All,

Apologies for the delay in responding back on this issue. In this thread there are multiple issues being discussed & if your issue is not similar to the below two issues then you need to create a new User Voice thread for that:
1. On opening a file in Illustrator the START SCREEN do not gets dismissed and the file’s content is not visible.
2. While working on a file and opening a new one the document view sticks to the old file and do not switches to the new file artwork.

In both the cases all the panels gets refreshed as per the artwork in the last opened file.

If you are encountering the above two issues with the latest version of Illustrator (23.1.1 on MAC & 23.1 on WINDOWS) then please drop an email at sharewithai@adobe.com along with this thread link so that we can isolate the issue further and get to the root cause of this.

Request to Windows User to update graphic driver as updating graphic card driver might fix the issue, Kindly update your driver via https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/kb/illustrator-gpu-performance-driver-update.html .

With Best Regards,
Ankit Goyal
Illustrator Team

Need More Info ·

AdminIllustrator Engineering (Software Engineer, Adobe Illustrator) responded · Aug 6, 2019

Hi All,

In both the cases all the panels gets refreshed as per the artwork in the last opened file.

If you are encountering the above two issues with the latest version of Illustrator (23.0.4 on MAC & 23.0.3 on WINDOWS) then please drop an email at sharewithai@adobe.com along with this thread link so that we can isolate the issue further and get to the root cause of this.

With Best Regards,
Raghuveer Singh
Illustrator Team

Under Review ·

AdminIllustrator Engineering (Software Engineer, Adobe Illustrator) responded · Aug 6, 2019

Re-opening this again since the issue is not fully fixed.

Thanks & Regards,
Raghuveer Singh
Illustrator Team

Completed (Comments Open) ·

Anish Kumar responded · Apr 12, 2019

Hi All,

This issue has been fixed in latest release. Please upgrade to 23.0.3 to get the fix.

Thanks
Anish

Done (In Beta) ·

Ashutosh Chaturvedi responded · Mar 13, 2019

Please accept my sincere apology for the inconvenience and disappointment the issue has caused. We have a fix and is available in the pre-release build. Please visit https://adobe.ly/1o2SDsg and get the latest build for version 23.0.3
While the build is prerelease this build is still of production quality. Please feel free to use / recommend it for your day to day activity.

Warm Regards,
Ashutosh Chaturvedi | Sr. Quality Engineering Manager – Illustrator
Adobe. Make It an Experience.

Started ·

Ashutosh Chaturvedi responded · Mar 9, 2019

Thank you all who have helped us recreate this intermittent issue. We have started working on a fix and hopefully we will have some good news shortly.
Please accept my sincere apology for the inconvenience and disappointment the issue has caused.
here is a workaround: Please launch Illustrator and once you have done that all double clicks on your file should work well. Another workaround is to press on home button once and then get back to the document.

Added To Backlog ·

Ashutosh Chaturvedi responded · Jul 23, 2018

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Rubén Hernández commented · May 18, 2018 8:22 PM · Report

Mac OS 10.12.6 Sierra - Illustrator 22.1
1. Double click in an Illustrator File.
2. Illustrator will open.
3. Your can see your file is open because you see the layers in layers window.
4. The rest of the screen only shows recently open documents.
5. You must select close file (even if you can't see it)
6. Reopen the file from the recent files screen will open your file normally.

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Mark Mastroianni commented · May 16, 2018 7:07 PM · Report

I have the same issue on my Mac -- but you CAN get to file. It's there, it's just not visible until you click and drag right about where the top tab SHOULD BE and pull it out of the main panel. The file magically appears. If you push it back into the main panel, it'll be there as usual but the top tab will be invisible. VERY aggravating.

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Esther commented · May 16, 2018 2:51 AM · Report

Same problem here. However, instead of reopening, I click "Window > Arrange > Float in Window" for the invisible file to become visible. Troublesome though.

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Mike commented · May 10, 2018 5:02 AM · Report

I was able to go back a version through the update menu and that fixed it.

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Anonymous commented · May 9, 2018 9:06 PM · Report

yes, I have exactly this problem, on two macs.

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Doug Miller commented · April 20, 2018 8:52 PM · Report

I have the same issue as do the other designers in my office. Closing and restarting AI helps. Also, the file doesn't open in tab view when opening a file from within AI. The interface is screwed up at the top.

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Anonymous commented · April 19, 2018 9:50 PM · Report

Same problem here too. Document window shows it is open but nothing is in the illustrator window. Fail.

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Ryan Geiger commented · April 9, 2018 6:55 PM · Report

I have been having the same issues as well and use the same workaround to get files to open.

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Mark Büchler commented · April 8, 2018 8:14 AM · Report

If Illustrator is closed, and I double-click an .ai file, the program launches, but the file doesn't. Well in reality, the file DOES open (I know this because I can see my custom color palette associated with that file), but Illustrator will not display the open document. I then have to close the doc, close Illustrator, re-launch Illustrator, then double-click the file. Only then will the program show me the file. (Mac OS 10.11.6). Have not yet tried this operation on my Windows 10 machine.

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Mike commented · April 3, 2018 6:59 PM · Report

Forgot to add that all of this happened after the latest update to Illustrator 22.1 and when I can get my document opened there is no title tab.

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Mike commented · April 3, 2018 6:41 PM · Report

When I open a document I've previously worked on I see the layers and the window menu shows the title of the document but I don't see the artboard. If I restart my computer (iMac OS 10.12.6) and open it again it's there. Restarting my computer every time I want to work on a document is not an option.

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Terry commented · April 2, 2018 9:55 PM · Report

1. 22.1
2. Double-clicked Ai file to open in Illustrator.
3. I expected to see my document open.
4. Document sort of opens. I can see the various layers, but I can't see the actual document. Instead I see the open recent/create documents screen. Choosing one of the options in Window>Arrange fixes this issue. Rebooting Illustrator also fixes the problem.

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