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Update GPU drivers for Illustrator

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  1. Illustrator User Guide
  2. Get to know Illustrator
    1. Introduction to Illustrator
      1. What's new in Illustrator
      2. Common questions
      3. Illustrator system requirements
      4. Illustrator for Apple silicon
    2. Workspace
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  3. Illustrator on the iPad
    1. Introduction to Illustrator on the iPad
      1. Illustrator on the iPad overview
      2. Illustrator on the iPad FAQs
      3. System requirements | Illustrator on the iPad
      4. What you can or cannot do on Illustrator on the iPad
    2. Workspace
      1. Illustrator on the iPad workspace
      2. Touch shortcuts and gestures
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      4. Manage your app settings
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      1. Work with documents in Illustrator on the iPad
      2. Import Photoshop and Fresco documents
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      2. Blend objects
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      1. Draw and edit paths
      2. Draw and edit shapes
    6. Type
      1. Work with type and fonts
      2. Create text designs along a path
      3. Add your own fonts
    7. Work with images
      1. Vectorize raster images
    8. Color
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    1. Basics
      1. Work with Illustrator cloud documents
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      4. Upgrade cloud storage for Adobe Illustrator
      5. Illustrator cloud documents | Common questions
    2. Troubleshooting
      1. Troubleshoot create or save issues for Illustrator cloud documents
      2. Troubleshoot Illustrator cloud documents issues
  5. Add and edit content
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      1. Drawing basics
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      10. Adjust path segments
      11. Design a flower in 5 easy steps
      12. Perspective drawing
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      14. Draw pixel-aligned paths for web workflows
    2. 3D objects and materials
      1. About 3D effects in Illustrator
      2. Create 3D graphics
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      4. Create 3D Text
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      8. Recolor your artwork
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      1. About painting
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      3. Live Paint groups
      4. Gradients
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    5. Select and arrange objects
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      10. Build new shapes with Shaper and Shape Builder tools
      11. Work with Live Corners
      12. Enhanced reshape workflows with touch support
      13. Edit clipping masks
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      15. Create shapes using the Shape Builder tool
      16. Global editing
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      1. Add text and work with type objects
      2. Create bulleted and numbered lists
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      13. Find missing fonts (Typekit workflow)
      14. Update text from Illustrator 10
      15. Arabic and Hebrew type
      16. Fonts | FAQ and troubleshooting tips
      17. Create 3D text effect
      18. Creative typography designs
      19. Scale and rotate type
      20. Line and character spacing
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      24. Format Asian characters
      25. Composers for Asian scripts
      26. Create text designs with blend objects
      27. Create a text poster using Image Trace
    8. Create special effects
      1. Work with effects
      2. Graphic styles
      3. Create a drop shadow
      4. Appearance attributes
      5. Create sketches and mosaics
      6. Drop shadows, glows, and feathering
      7. Summary of effects
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      2. Graphs
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  6. Import, export, and save
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    2. Creative Cloud Libraries in Illustrator 
      1. Creative Cloud Libraries in Illustrator
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  7. Printing
    1. Prepare for printing
      1. Set up documents for printing
      2. Change the page size and orientation
      3. Specify crop marks for trimming or aligning
      4. Get started with large canvas
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      1. Overprint
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      5. Printer's marks and bleeds
      6. Print and save transparent artwork
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      10. White Overprint
  8. Automate tasks
    1. Data merge using the Variables panel
    2. Automation with scripts
    3. Automation with actions
  9. Troubleshooting 
    1. Crash issues
    2. Recover files after crash
    3. File issues
    4. Supported file formats
    5. GPU device driver issues
    6. Wacom device issues
    7. DLL file issues
    8. Memory issues
    9. Preferences file issues
    10. Font issues
    11. Printer issues
    12. Share crash report with Adobe
    13. Improve Illustrator performance

Learn how to identify and update outdated GPU device drivers. 

The Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) is a specialized processor that accelerates graphics rendering and helps Illustrator run smoother and faster. If your GPU drivers are not updated, they may not work well with the latest Illustrator version.

Before you begin

Ensure that your operating system and Illustrator are up to date.   Update Illustrator

Are you a macOS user?

Update macOS to automatically update your GPU drivers.

Are you a Windows user?

Update Windows and read on to learn how to manually update your GPU drivers.

Do you see a System Compatibility Report when you open Illustrator? You will see this report if your GPU drivers are outdated. We recommend that you install the latest GPU drivers to fix this incompatibility. Following are the reports you see if your Intel and Nvidia GPUs are outdated:

Intel and Nvidia

System compatibility report

System compatibility report for Intel and Nvidia GPU drivers (displayed on app launch until the incompatibility is fixed)

Intel

System compatibility report

System compatibility report for Intel GPU drivers (displayed only once on app launch)

We recommend that you update the drivers as soon as you see this report. However, you can also click Ok (Intel) or Continue with known issues... (Intel and Nvidia) to close the report and take action later.

Follow any of these options to export the report or reopen the dialog:

  • Click Export Report to export the contents of the report to a text file.
  • Choose Help > System Compatibility Report to reopen the dialog.

Don't know your GPU manufacturer? Or how to update the drivers for a specific manufacturer? Read on to learn how to identify your GPU manufacturer and update the drivers.

Identify GPU manufacturer

Follow these steps to identify your GPU manufacturer:

Preferences panel
Identify your GPU manufacturer

  1. Launch Illustrator.

  2. Open the Preferences panel (Press Ctrl+K or choose Edit > Preferences).

  3. In the GPU Performance tab, note the manufacturer listed under the GPU Details area.

Update GPU drivers

Select your GPU manufacturer from the drop-down list and follow the steps to update your drivers. If your computer has multiple GPU cards from different manufacturers, update the drivers for each card.

Related topics

Now that you have updated your GPU drivers, take a step forward and learn more about GPU Performance features and how to optimize Illustrator performance.

Have a question or an idea?

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