Text changes colour at random
A file appears correct in Illustrator 2026 and correctly produces a PDF (save a copy) when the original Illustrator file is still open. Yet when the Illustrator file is then saved, closed and then reopened, the Illustrator file has errors with the colour of text changing at random. This is happening on multiple computers running MacOS (Silicon). This error only happens in Illustrator 2026 and not 2025.
The text that changes varies, even within one document. Sometimes it is a single piece of text that changes, sometimes it is all of the text. The colour it changes to is random, ie sometimes black, sometimes a spot PANTONE colour, sometimes a process colour swatch.
We have also had other weird things happen such as a PDF appearing incorrectly in Acrobat but when opening that same PDF back in Illustrator, the colours appear as they should.
See screenshots for what happens to text after opening in Illustrator 2026.
We tried to find specific circumstances for when text changes colour but could not. A file that was getting corrupted 30 minutes ago, failed to be corrupted when we tried the same things later. The only consistent feature is that it is Illustrator 2026 and not any other version of Illustrator.
Angelo Setaro
shared this idea
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Danielle Racamato commented
I am having the same issue with Pantone/Swatch colors being reassigned at random when I reopen a document. I am using version v30.7 (mac)
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Ah, got it. Fixed the mentions in the original report.
Please email the files, so the team can review it. -
Angelo Setaro
commented
Apologies I should clarify that this was in Illustrator 2026 and not in 2025.
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Angelo, does anyone confirmed this in anything more recent than v26, like 30.7? It could have been fixed since then.
Anyway, thanks — the team would require the files (including the font files) that you can verify on your side are having the bug. Ideally, clear steps would be needed the team could follow to make it happen and start the investigation. It’s hard to test anything without the files on hands.
Please package it and email to sharewithai@adobe.com (and please also mention the link to this report so they can track it back here, https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447/suggestions/51576482)
