Illustrator CC 2019 is very slow and laggy

I'm using a Mac OS 10.13 Intel Core i7 16 GB. Ever since I updated to the CC 2019, illustrator became laggy and slow. The other adobe apps worked fine after the update. I saw here that I should try turning the dictation off but that didn't help.
Everything in illustrator is slow now. And if I use the blend tool a lot in one document the eyedropper option in the gradient window becomes unavailable. Everything even if it's as simple as moving from one art board to the next or zooming in/out is lagging

Screen Shot 2020-06-06 at 6.22.32 PM.png 301 KB

208 votes

Batoul shared this idea · Jan 23, 2019 · Report… · Admin →

Completed (Comments Closed) ·

AdminAnkit Goyal(Illustrator Team) (Admin, Adobe Illustrator) responded · Mar 25, 2021

Hi All,

Thanks for reporting this issue. We understand your problem, but need some more information to get to the root cause of the problem areas. We’d require information about the specific workflows, tools, features with which you’re noticing performance degradation in Illustrator.

Here are some performance-related issues that are already reported in Illustrator User Voice. If you too are facing a similar issue, kindly add your vote on the relevant threads. If your issue is not listed here, please feel free to open up a new thread. We’re marking this thread as closed for now.

1.Overprint Preview / CPU Previews in 5k→ https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447-illustrator-desktop-bugs/suggestions/34318231-performance-issues-in-pixel-preview-on-5k-retina-s

2.Performance issues in basic operations Zoom / Pan

3.Performance issues in Specific features
Rulers→https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447-illustrator-desktop-bugs/suggestions/32228167-laggy-performance-with-rulers-turned-on
Shape Builder→https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447-illustrator-desktop-bugs/suggestions/40204285-shape-builder-performance

Thanks for your patience and support!
Ankit Goyal
Illustrator Team

Show previous admin responses (5)

Under Review ·

AdminRama (Mgr, Software Development, Adobe Illustrator) responded · Jul 23, 2020

General slowness on using Illustrator on Mac is one of the major issues reported in this thread. Illustrator team made significant progress in replacing Illustrator’s GPU rendering engine from OpenGL to macOS Native Metal Rendering Engine – https://developer.apple.com/metal/.
We have observed common operations like Zoom, Pan, and rendering operations are now smoother in cases where it was sluggish as reported in this thread. We urge Mac users to try the Illustrator Beta build with Metal support and share your feedback.
Please note, this may not address other performance issues reported in this thread not related to rendering like File Save, Export, or slowness in any particular feature.

This build is available in Illustrator Prerelease Download Section – https://www.adobeprerelease.com/beta/85A6F544-2705-49BD-8314-DD549C6A1713

Need More Info ·

AdminIllustrator Engineering (Software Engineer, Adobe Illustrator) responded · Jun 29, 2019

Gentle Reminder 2:

Apologies for the inconvenience that has been caused by Illustrator’s performance on your system.

To isolate this issue further, will it be possible for you to join an online session with Illustrator team so that we can nail down this issue further after analysing it on your system.

Please drop an email about your time availability (so that we can share you the session link) at sharewithai@adobe.com

With Best Regards,
Raghuveer Singh
Illustrator Team

Need More Info ·

AdminIllustrator Engineering (Software Engineer, Adobe Illustrator) responded · Jun 15, 2019

Gentle Reminder 1:

Hi,

Apologies for the inconvenience caused to you due to this issue. Few of you have already helped us to reproduce this issue at our end but we are still not able to repro this at our side. We are trying to get to the root cause of this issue & for that we need your help.

Are you still facing the issue with AI version 23.0.3 (WIN) or 23.0.4 (MAC) ?

If yes, can you have an online session with the engineering team so that we can see what is happening at your end ?
Please drop me an email at: rbhunwalATTHERATEadobeDOTcom

With Best Regards,
Raghuveer Singh
Illustrator Team

Need More Info ·

AdminIllustrator Engineering (Software Engineer, Adobe Illustrator) responded · Apr 24, 2019

Hi,

Apologies for getting back late on this issue. Few of you have already helped us to reproduce this issue at our end but we are still not able to repro this at our side.
Are you still facing the issue with AI version 23.0.3?
If yes, please drop me an email at rbhunwalATTHERATEadobeDOTcom

With Best Regards,
Raghuveer Singh

Need More Info ·

AdminIllustrator Engineering (Software Engineer, Adobe Illustrator) responded · Mar 4, 2019

Hi All,

Thanks for reporting this issue. Unfortunately, we are not able to reproduce this issue at our end.
Can you please drop an email to sharewithai@adobe.com so that we can track this issue from there & isolate it further?

Please do mention the link of this thread in the mail.

With Best Regards,
Raghuveer Singh,
Illustrator Team

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Steven Vosen commented · March 11, 2019 5:23 AM · Report

Same here, running on a new AMD 8-Core Processor with 16 GB, Windows 10
It is almost unusable.

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AQuick commented · March 11, 2019 4:58 AM · Report

Did anyone get help on this? Recently purchased Macbook pro 15in 2018 and had my files/apps copied over so I'm using CS6. Whenever i work with fonts it drags and spins forever. Even to just type a "." and backspace takes almost 5mins.

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Anonymous commented · March 10, 2019 7:55 PM · Report

Illustrator is starting very slowly on a Mac OSMojave with 16 GB RAM. What could be the problem?

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Jamie commented · March 8, 2019 1:43 AM · Report

I came here with the same issues. I bought a new MacBook Pro two weeks ago and am DYING from lag, glitchy movements, slow click-on and click-off. I can't take it. I don't know what to do.

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Anonymous commented · March 7, 2019 10:20 PM · Report

Nightmare, 10 core iMac Pro with 64GB RAM. Like treading through treacle. Unsuable.

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Anonymous commented · March 7, 2019 1:32 PM · Report

So I am not alone. I encountered this issue after bought a new MacBook with a touch bar a few months ago. It really irks me all the times when I open the file to do design works. Please do something to fix this Illustrator CC as soon as possible.

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Anonymous commented · March 6, 2019 9:58 PM · Report

I have Windows and since the update, the opening and closing are so freggin slow.... Trying to do anything in the 2019 version is like waiting for something to download with dial up access.

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Andrew Hainen commented · March 5, 2019 1:51 AM · Report

I hate how much alllllll the problems in this thread I'm having, but the program as a whole is so slow that "reproducing" it just isn't feasible. Illustrator is just......slower than ever, full stop.

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Deborah commented · February 22, 2019 11:44 AM · Report

My brightness was set to "light". There is a delay of about a second for every keystroke. I rolled back to Adobe CC 2018 and problem is gone.

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Anonymous commented · February 22, 2019 9:57 AM · Report

You may not believe this, but if you switch the Brightness to of User Interface setting to light, it gets better. and if you use an external display which doesn't support High DPI, it gets much better. but this is just like a temporary solution. I hope Adobe dev team takes this seriously.

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Toelio commented · February 21, 2019 4:02 PM · Report

Update: I just switched back to Adobe 2018, and every work immediately again as normal, no lag or slow behaviour whatsoever.

There is clearly something very wrong with the 2019 version as I noticed that all software in the Adobe suite has simply been working bad. Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign AfterEffects, and Premiere all decreased in performance massively.

It makes me very nervous to update again in the future. Hope this will be fixed well.

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Ole Bertelsen commented · February 21, 2019 3:22 PM · Report

Same here - it must be fixed fast. 32 Gb of ram should be enough to handle an app like this.

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Ole Bertelsen commented · February 21, 2019 3:20 PM · Report

Same here - it must be fixed fast.

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Sc commented · February 21, 2019 6:33 AM · Report

Experiencing the same issues with AI CC 2019. I have a brand new MacBook Pro. I type any word and try to move it or try to move any object and AI freezes up for about 5 seconds, also freezing the entire desktop in the process so you cant even click off of the app. This needs fixing FAST. Super annoying.

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Deborah commented · February 20, 2019 12:42 AM · Report

Same. Push a pixel, wait. And wait and wait.

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Toelio commented · February 19, 2019 2:35 PM · Report

Yup same here, Illustrator is extremely slow and laggy. Very frustrating.
working on a brand new 2018 Macbook pro 15 inch 2.6 GHz i7

I also experience Photoshop to behave slower as before.

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Karoly Kiralyfalvi commented · February 13, 2019 11:56 PM · Report

I have an iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2015) with 24GB RAM and Illustrator 2019 is extremely slow with everything. It's the worst one ever. What do you recommend guys?

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Anonymous commented · February 12, 2019 1:49 AM · Report

My iMAC 5K should work with Ai but it is slow like a moose in the swamp. Program is a total paint in the grass.

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Anonymous commented · February 8, 2019 1:30 AM · Report

I have this problem as well -- MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2018) 16 GB, 2.7 GHz Intel Core i7, and illustrator is suddenly unusable. Super laggy and spinning beach ball of death after every mouse click.

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