Randomly, when files and thumbnails are saved out of Illustrator, the resulting thumbnails are glitched in a variety of ways. This glitch is present in the preview in the Finder window, but upon opening the file again, the glitch is not present. This is not from appearances or overprint being applied to artwork elements, as we are familiar with the issues those settings present in a print production environment, and this is a separate issue.

- Running on a MacBook Pro, 2021, running Sequoia 15.0.
- Using Illustrator 30.0.
- The issue occurs when Illustrator saves a file or thumbnail, randomly, without any indicators that it's going to happen.
- The preview of the file and the thumbnails of the file should match exactly how the file appears in Illustrator, but the saved -preview and thumbnails appear glitched in some way.

A) In the orange file example, the file is saved exactly as shown in screenshot A1. The thumbnail and preview of the file were saved with elements duplicated and scaled differently from the actual file and how the actual file appears when reopened—screenshot A2 and A3. I do not have the original file with the issue to attach.

B) In the Super Collagen file, the file was saved exactly as shown in screenshot B1. The thumbnail and preview of the file were saved with multiple elements missing and without the background elements—screenshot B2.

C) In the Smooth Current Serum file, the file was saved exactly as shown in screenshot C1. The thumbnail and preview of the file were saved with a previous version of the "SMOOTH" text overlapping the actual text in the artwork. This old version had 3 "O's" in the text, but was DELETED/removed from the file. Yet it saved over top of the corrected version in the thumbnail and preview, even though this "SMOOOTH" text had been deleted PRIOR to saving the file.

These issues cause huge problems in a production environment when the thumbnails are used for proofing and the software saving out the thumbnails cannot be trusted to accurately represent the artwork. I have screenshots and files for about 15 additional documented instances of this thumbnail/preview glitch occurring.

The same issue appears to have been reported to the r/AdobeIllustrator thread on reddit a month ago. https://www.reddit.com/r/AdobeIllustrator/comments/1okei68/anyone_else_getting_glitched_previews_for_ai/

Sigh. The first attempt at reporting this bug had a submit button that would not work. Isn't that special? Here is the file.

I'm using Illustrator 2026 30.0 and Indesign 2026 21.0. I have made a graphic in Illustrator that is a bar chart with numbers over the bars. ONE number did not show up in Adobe Indesign when the file was placed in InDesign. The numbers were all duplicated so there is not overprint or non print set on the one that was missing. I tried converting the number to outlines and it still did now show up in InDesign (or the pdf that I exported for a proof). I then tried saving as not pdf info and then I did not get the preview. So I went back resaved with PDF compatible info and the graphic behaved itself now. Not the first time that elements are in Illustrator and do not show up in Indesign so I had to mess around and try various work arounds to get this to work. Running a Mac Mini on OS 15.6.1 (24G90). file attached - it is the number 1 on Archival Processing bar that did not work. At some point the 4 also disappeared in InDesign but now the file is working fine because I did so many "save as" so not sure how to fix this issue now. So easy to do the correct work but then have it go missing due to Software flaws.

Recently I updated to the new 2026 v 30.0 of Adobe Illustrator and I've been experiencing rogue images and text when I save an Illustrator file. These images show up in print, placing the image in indesign and in previewing the file in finder. There is no double layer or hidden layer that contains these images but just seems to be a double of the existing shapes or text but either in a different spot or slightly resized. I am running on macOS 15.7.1. The only way I have found to fix the issue is to export as a jpg but this interrupts my workflow.

I've placed an illustrator file into Indesign and it looked fine. After moving some things around on the illustrator file and saving it, the link updated in Indesign and some of the text has duplicated itself visually. It's not showing up as such on my illustrator file, and i tried closing indesign and opening back up again and it looks the same still. even after hiding all the text layers, some of them remain (the duplicated ones), it's almost like they've burned themselves into the file

I just updated to the most recent versions of illustrator (v 30.0) and indesign (v 21.0). When I rolled back to the earlier version of illustrator, it works fine so it's definitely the new update

I have disabled the 'Save in Background' feature in illustrator and it seems to work with no more text duplication etc, just my workflow is a lot slower now as I have to wait for the complete save to happen before I can continue working... I really hope all these issues will be fixed soon - please? I am also using Illustrator for Mac, 29.8.2 - MacOS 15.4

AI files contain two different types of data: “native data” and “PDF data.”
When PDF compatibility is enabled, the system generates PDF data that should have the same appearance as the native data.
However, sometimes this PDF data does not match the appearance of the native data. This issue has become frequent since version 2020 (24) and later, when the background functionality was introduced.

All applications except Illustrator only recognize the PDF data within AI files. InDesign also links AI files as PDF files. The abnormalities observed are likely due to failures in PDF data generation.

An effective method to avoid this issue is to disable the background functionality.

While Acrobat layer abnormalities occur in PDF data, PDF generation defects are a different bug from this.

Illustrator corrupts when importing into photoshop of indesign. The text is duplicated on top of itself. My fix is by saving the illustrator file as a pdf and then reimporting into photoshop of indesign. Quite annoying... Has anyone else had this or similar issues?

Estuardo, please try to disable Save in Background option in Preferences > File Handling and comment back if it changes anything with resaved files.

Adobe Apps duplicate or omit objects when linking Illustrator files, and you have to go back and ungroup objects so they are not shown duplicated, or with some objects you have to move them, then put it back on place so they show up again.

I tried to remove them, save and update the document inside the other apps (when it was duplicated), and both PS and ID still showed the objects.

This is so frustrating because it was never an issue before, and now I can’t rely on my linked files at all. We constantly create mockups in Photoshop and InDesign using linked Illustrator objects, and grouped elements are suddenly duplicating or disappearing. It’s seriously affecting our workflow.

I am using Illustrator for Mac, 29.8.2
MacOS 15.5

Please fix this.

There are a couple of posts in the forum about duplicate objects when placing AI files in InDesign.