Hello,

I’ve been experiencing an issue with Adobe Illustrator 2026 that is affecting my workflow.

When I place and embed images into my Illustrator file, everything appears normal at first. However, after saving and reopening the file, the embedded images sometimes appear corrupted, low-resolution, or visually broken.

I’ve also noticed that .tmp files are being generated during the save process, and I suspect that the file may not be completing the save operation properly. This seems to result in image data not being preserved correctly.

Hi Egor, I'm attaching the last file that gave me the image problem.

In the blue graphic, the image of the orange under the blue overprint element has disappeared. It's still present in the links palette, but it has become transparent.

If you enable overprinting in the blue graphic, the orange has disappeared.

I'm also attaching a screenshot so you can see what it should actually look like.

Thanks

@grafica - Will it be possible for you to share this recent file with us as well? I am not sure if the file shared earlier would still be the apt one for newer observation. Thanks.

Hi Egor, this happened to me while working on a new file with version 30.3.

The same problem: once I closed the file, upon reopening it, an embedded image became transparent.
It's present in the links palette, but it's transparent.

There are also other images in the file that are fine; out of 5 embedded images, only 1 is missing.

Thanks

Sad to hear it... Am I right thinking the same test files you shared with the team still can be used to make this happen? After resaving them? As well as other new docs?

Hi Egor, unfortunately, the problem recurred recently with version 30.3.

It's impossible to fix it. We pay a very expensive subscription and are forced to work with older versions of the software while customers send us files created with the latest version.

Keep me updated.

Thanks

Hi Hegor, ok I downloaded version 30.3 and I'm testing it.

Let's hope the problem is truly resolved.

I'll keep you updated.

Thank you

@Adzkia - We would need more information on this issue. Are you seeing this with PDF files? Have you ever seen this issue happening when you created a new Ai file (not from content copied from PDF), saved it and reopened it?

Hi Akshaya,

This file is an AI file that we edited. The files we receive from customers are usually AI files or PDF files. For the first example I attached, the original file was a PDF. We edited it and copied the design into a new document in Illustrator. After saving it as an AI file and reopening it, the images that were embedded disappeared.

Illustrator itself did not crash. This happens during a normal saving process. We also tried turning off GPU Performance, but the images still disappear when the file is reopened.

As another example, the barcode image does not completely disappear because the box of the barcode is still there. However, the image itself is not visible (it appears transparent when viewed).

Is there any other method or solution that we could try?

Hi,

Apologies for you running into this issue.

Can you share more details about the nature of these files?

You mentioned that they are embedded. Did you place these files in Illustrator through any particular route - for example dragging from another application to Illustrator? Or, if you take a screenshot and placed it directly in Illustrator?

Do you run into any crash before seeing this issue or does it happen with normal (successful) save and reopening of files?

Do these images have any embedded color profiles?

Try turning off "GPU Performance" checkbox in Performance section of Preferences and relaunch Illustrator. See if that change helps in such files or not.

Hello Adobe Illustrator Community,

I would like to report an issue we have been experiencing with Adobe Illustrator that has caused serious problems in our production workflow.

Issue Description:
Images that were properly embedded in Adobe Illustrator files go missing after the files are closed and reopened. The images are not corrupt, and their resolution is below 500 PPI. However, upon reopening the AI file, some embedded images disappear completely.

This issue does not occur in all Illustrator files; it happens randomly across different files, making it difficult to predict or prevent.

Impact:
This problem has caused losses for our prepress team, as some images went missing without being noticed, while the printed products had already been produced.

Since:
November 2025 – present

Adobe Illustrator Version:
30.1

Operating Systems:
Windows 10 and Windows 11

Attached are images as evidence showing the missing embedded images after reopening the files.

We would appreciate any assistance, clarification, or solution regarding this issue, as it significantly affects our production reliability.

Thank you for your support.

Hi Egor, any news on my problem?

Hi Egor, I sent the requested files to sharewithai@adobe.com. Do you have any updates on my problem?

When I try to open the document (the PDF one, not the original .ai — it’s missing, sadly), I have no problems with the images...
Please send the original .ai to sharewithai@adobe.com directly, to avoid UV’s spam robot, and mention the link to this report so they can track it back here — http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447/suggestions/50671049

It’s OK, I restored the comments. UV decided to treat them as spam for any odd reasons it has, sorry for this.

I tried attaching the Illustrator and PDF files, but I couldn't.

I'll try some screenshots.

file

Hi Egor, I'm attaching the corrupted Illustrator file after reopening and the PDF that was generated after the first save.

As you can see, there are three images in the Illustrator file, but they turned white after reopening.

They don't physically disappear, but they just turn white.

From the PDF, you can see what they should look like.

Thanks

The discussion doesn’t mention using networks, but I assume the corrupted images look similarly.
When you say 'vanish' — do you mean the way these look? You don’t mean these actually vanish from the document as objects, right?
When this happens, does fiddling with GPU and making a local copy of the file restore the way these look? Do you need to restart Ai to achieve this?

The only thing I personally can do is to help you to gather as much details as possible to help the team to investigate this — this is what I'm trying to do :) I work with files in a local network as well, but this bug never happened with me or my colleagues (if it did, it’d be good! ...in a weird sense)

Hi Egor, so the images are embedded and all the files are saved on a network NAS.

We're a label company and we process hundreds of files a day.

The process I use is this:

I insert the client's PDF into Illustrator, embed it, and the images are fine. Then I save and close the file. When I reopen it, the images are corrupted/disappeared.

This doesn't happen with all files, but it happens randomly.

It's been discussed on various forums here, too, but disabling the GPU doesn't seem normal to me. https://www.reddit.com/r/AdobeIllustrator/comments/1l2iw5s/illustrator_2025_bug_embed_imagery_disappearing/

Can you help me?

Thanks