Thanks @Egor for the thoughtful reply and the references — they’re very helpful.
I agree that Illustrator is not a CAD application, and that CAD software is often better suited to interpret Bézier geometry and convert it into true arcs. In practice, CAD-side conversion options like the ones you linked are indeed the most realistic solution today.
That said, I still hope this conversation can live on as a forward-looking consideration rather than a closed conclusion.
Illustrator does provide the data it has — Bézier curves — but in many real-world workflows those curves originate from exact primitives and constrained constructions. Once that semantic information is discarded, the handoff becomes lossy in a way that isn’t always visible to users until fabrication.
Even if the primary responsibility remains on the CAD side, any future improvement in how Illustrator preserves, exposes, or flags known constant-radius geometry before export would be greatly appreciated. Not as an attempt to turn Illustrator into CAD, but as a way to make the transition between design and fabrication more transparent and intentional.
For those of us using Illustrator as an early step in automated or CNC-oriented workflows, small improvements in this area would have a disproportionately positive impact.
Thanks again for engaging with the topic — even acknowledging these edge cases already helps move the conversation forward.
Thanks for reporting the issue .
We have fixed the bug which was orignally reported but it seems some users are still facing the issue.
We are not able to reproduce this issue in house now ,Kindly provide following info to nail down this issue:
1)Kindly provide some video , Test file(Via File→Package) & some steps with which you are facing issue and share with us at ShareWithAI@adobe.com .
2)Please try the below mentioned workaround and let us know if that helps:
If you do not use custom Adobe PDF presets/joboptions or not heard of it then follow the below steps
1. Navigate to user presets folder
Win: appdata\Adobe\Adobe PDF\Settings
Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Adobe PDF/Settings
2. Rename the folder to “Settings old” and create a new empty folder “Settings” in the same place
3. Launch Illustrator and check if you can save the document
If you use custom Adobe PDF presets then follow below steps
1. Go to Edit > Adobe PDF Presets
2. Check PDF compatibility of PDF presets that are not default
3. Make a note of presets that use PDF compatibility version 1.3
4. Quit Illustrator
5. Navigate to user presets folder
Win: appdata\Adobe\Adobe PDF\Settings
Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Adobe PDF/Settings
6. Move the presets identified in step 3 out of this folder
7. Launch Illustrator and check if you can save the document
3)Please share your preset folder in a Zip File
Win: appdata\Adobe\Adobe PDF\Settings
Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Adobe PDF/Settings
4)Please try the below mentioned workaround and let us know if that helps:
Steps:
i)Launch Illustrator
ii)Open preference by pressing “Cmd+K”
iii)Go to “File Handling & Clipboard”
iv)Uncheck "Optimize file Open and Save Time on Slow Network (Beta) "
v)Click ok
vi)Try to save file and let us know if that helps
If it is still reproducible
i)Open preference by pressing “Cmd+K”
ii)Go to “File Handling & Clipboard”
uncheck “Save in background”
iii)Click ok
iv)Try to save file and let us know if that helps
Kindly share the above with us at ShareWithAI@adobe.com in a Zip file. Please mention the title of this issue as the subject of the mail.
Thanks and Regards
Ankit Goyal
Illustrator Team
Hi,
Thanks for reporting the issue .
We have fixed the bug which was orignally reported but it seems some users are still facing the issue.
We are not able to reproduce this issue in house now ,Kindly provide following info to nail down this issue:
1)Kindly provide some video , Test file(Via File→Package) & some steps with which you are facing issue and share with us at ShareWithAI@adobe.com .
2)Please try the below mentioned workaround and let us know if that helps:
If you do not use custom Adobe PDF presets/joboptions or not heard of it then follow the below steps
1. Navigate to user presets folder
Win: appdata\Adobe\Adobe PDF\Settings
Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Adobe PDF/Settings
2. Rename the folder to “Settings old” and create a new empty folder “Settings” in the same place
3. Launch Illustrator and check if you can save the document
stefaan van damme
Thanks @Egor for the thoughtful reply and the references — they’re very helpful.
I agree that Illustrator is not a CAD application, and that CAD software is often better suited to interpret Bézier geometry and convert it into true arcs. In practice, CAD-side conversion options like the ones you linked are indeed the most realistic solution today.
That said, I still hope this conversation can live on as a forward-looking consideration rather than a closed conclusion.
Illustrator does provide the data it has — Bézier curves — but in many real-world workflows those curves originate from exact primitives and constrained constructions. Once that semantic information is discarded, the handoff becomes lossy in a way that isn’t always visible to users until fabrication.
Even if the primary responsibility remains on the CAD side, any future improvement in how Illustrator preserves, exposes, or flags known constant-radius geometry before export would be greatly appreciated. Not as an attempt to turn Illustrator into CAD, but as a way to make the transition between design and fabrication more transparent and intentional.
For those of us using Illustrator as an early step in automated or CNC-oriented workflows, small improvements in this area would have a disproportionately positive impact.
Thanks again for engaging with the topic — even acknowledging these edge cases already helps move the conversation forward.