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Improve Illustrator performance

Learn how to make Illustrator run quickly and efficiently on Windows and macOS.

Several factors affect how efficiently Adobe Illustrator performs, such as your operating system, hardware configuration, workflow, and selected options. If you notice Illustrator running more slowly than usual, try the techniques provided for optimizing not only Illustrator performance but the performance of your other apps as well.

The hero is a visual representation of optimizing operating system, hardware and working on Illustrator effectively with characters working on the system, color themes and outline view

Before you begin, ensure that you have installed the latest version of Illustrator.

Update Illustrator

Click the tabs below to view and follow the listed steps to improve your Illustrator performance.

By configuring your operating system to run efficiently, you increase the amount of memory available to apps, which helps them run smoothly. Here are several steps to optimize Windows and macOS and improve Illustrator performance.

Manage fonts

Ensure that you:

  • Install only the fonts you need to improve system performance and the performance of apps that access fonts.
  • Use a font management utility to help you manage many fonts.

Use a PostScript printer driver

Non-PostScript printer drivers can conflict with Illustrator. Therefore, Adobe recommends you set a PostScript printer driver as the default printer in macOS. The PostScript printer has to be connected to your computer directly or via a network to complete the following steps.

Step 1. Set a PostScript printer as the default printer

  1. From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences, then click Printers & Scanners.

  2. If a PostScript printer isn't listed, click +, navigate to a PostScript printer, and click Add.

  3. Select a PostScript printer from Default Printer pop-up menu.

Step 2. Configure Illustrator to print to a non-default printer

  1. Open any document in Illustrator, and choose File > Print.

  2. In the Print dialog box, choose Adobe PostScript File or the name of the printer from the Printer menu and click Save.

 If the interface is customized, then some procedures vary. For example, the path to navigate to the Control Panel may vary. Choose Start > Settings > Control Panel or Start > Control Panel, depending on your version of Windows. 

Increase available memory

To increase performance, choose the right size for your paging file (the area of the hard drive that stores virtual memory). Choose a hard drive not used for the Illustrator scratch disk for best performance. Administrator rights are required to change the paging file size. Illustrator performs best when the paging file's maximum size is about three times the amount of installed RAM.

  1. Quit all apps.

  2. Type Control Panel in Windows Search in the task bar.

  3. Choose System > Advanced system settings.

  4. In the System Properties dialog box, choose the Advanced tab.

  5. Click Settings in the Performance section, and then choose the Advanced tab.

  6. In the Virtual Memory section, click Change.

  7. Clear the Automatically manage paging file size for all drives check box.

  8. From the Drive list, select a hard drive that has at least three times the amount of your computer's installed RAM. For example, if your computer has 64 MB of RAM, select a hard drive that has at least 192 MB of free space.

Disable driver features

Some video adapter drivers offer advanced settings for accelerating or modifying graphics display. Sometimes, these settings can adversely affect screen redraw performance in Illustrator. Disable driver-specific features to determine the best settings for use with Illustrator. For more information, see the documentation for your video adapter.

Manage fonts

Ensure that you:

  • Install only the fonts you need to improve system performance and the performance of apps that access fonts. 
  • Use a font management utility to help you manage many fonts.

Limit startup applications

Apps that start automatically on Windows compete with Illustrator for available RAM.

 To prevent apps from starting automatically, do the following:

  1. Quit all apps.

  2. Start Windows Explorer.
  3. Disable startup apps by moving all icons and shortcuts from the Startup folder (OSDisk\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp) to another folder.

  4. Restart Windows.

To close apps specified to start automatically in the registry, do the following:

  1. Restart Windows and press Ctrl+Shift+Esc.

  2. Choose the Processes tab. Select an app name, and then click End Task.

  3. Restart Illustrator. If Illustrator performance improves, then contact the application's manufacturer for assistance to permanently disable it from starting automatically. 

  4. Repeat steps 2-5 for each remaining startup app.

After restarting, check if the Illustrator performance improves or not and re-enable shortcuts and icons. For more information, see Take control of your Windows start-up

Re-enable shortcuts and icons

If Illustrator performance does not improve after limiting start-up applications and restarting, do the following:

  1.  Add the icons and shortcuts back to the Startup folder and re-enable the them in Windows Explorer.

  2. Isolate the performance problem to one or more programs and place them in the Startup folder using Windows Explorer and re-enable their icons and shortcuts.

If the performance of Illustrator improves after restarting Windows, do the following:

  1. Restart your computer after re-enabling each set of icons and shortcuts and testing Illustrator performance.

  2. Repeat this process until the performance of Illustrator degrades. 

  3. Isolate the icon or shortcut that is causing the performance issue and remove it again. Contact the program's manufacturer to see if an update is available.

The hardware you use affects Illustrator performance: the faster the processor or hard drive, the faster Illustrator can process information. Other hardware enhancements, such as installing additional RAM, using a multiprocessor system, or optimizing and defragmenting drives, can also improve performance.

Choose your operating system and try the steps below to optimize hardware:

Use a faster processor

The speed of your computer's central processing unit (CPU) affects the speed of Illustrator. Because Illustrator manipulates large quantities of data and performs many calculations, its speed depends on the processor's speed. Consider using a computer with a faster processor.

Install additional RAM

If Illustrator has insufficient RAM, it uses hard disk space (virtual memory, scratch disk, or both) to process information. Illustrator is fastest when it can process information in memory without using a hard disk.

Optimize disk space

Here are a few ways to optimize disk space:

  • Check your hard disk for errors or defragment files with a third-party disk utility (for example, Norton Utilities). If you're running macOS, the drive must be repaired with a third-party disk utility.
  • Save your files to drives with faster access speeds. For example, use an internal hard drive rather than a network server or external drive.

Use a faster processor

The speed of your computer's central processing unit (CPU) affects the speed of Illustrator. Because Illustrator manipulates large quantities of data and performs many calculations, its speed depends on the processor's speed. Consider using a computer with a faster processor.

Install additional RAM

If Illustrator has insufficient RAM, it uses hard disk space (virtual memory, scratch disk, or both) to process information. Illustrator is fastest when it can process information in memory, without using a hard disk.

Optimize disk space

Here are a few ways to optimize disk space:

  • Check your hard disk for errors, defragment files, and make the best use of available hard disk space by using the CHKDSK.exe and Disk Defragmenter programs. For more information on Windows, see Improve performance for Windows.
  • Save your files to drives with faster access speeds. For example, use an internal hard drive rather than a network server or external drive.
  • If you want to save a file to a network or external drive, save the file to an internal hard drive. Then close the file and use Windows Explorer to copy it to the network or external drive.

Use a PostScript printer

For best results when printing from Illustrator, use a PostScript printer. Most non-PostScript printers rely on display information, host computer resources, and proprietary printer drivers to relay print information to the printer. Therefore, they can take much longer to print than a PostScript printer.

The way you work in Illustrator—especially the way you view artwork—can affect Illustrator performance. Here are some ways to use Illustrator features efficiently.

Related resources

Apart from optimizing the operating system, and hardware and using Illustrator efficiently, you can also fix GPU performance to boost Illustrator performance. Check these articles to learn about other related issues:

Join the conversation

If you have a question to ask or an idea to share, come and participate in Adobe Illustrator Community. We'd love to hear from you.

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