Our final solution is simple: link files instead of embedding them. Hide unnecessary layers in your Layers panel not only to speed up your own process and focus on the task at hand, but also to give your machine a bit of a break. The more complex your document and the changes you've made to it are, the more virtual memory this will take up, often causing lag.

Speaking of hiding content, every time you make a change to your active layer, all of those visible need to render again while in Preview Mode. Rasterized content on the left and vector content on the right. This works well for textures, patterns, and other content that may take a while to render.Īlternatively, you can create a copy of the effect to preview it as a rasterized object while keeping the full, vector piece in another file or hidden. If a loss of perfectly scalable quality isn't a problem for you, you may consider rasterizing effects or complex content to put less stress on your machine. Solution #2: Rasterize ContentĪs you're working on a very large design, consider if it's for print or web. Luckily we have more tips! Outline Mode on the left and Overprint Preview Mode on the right. Sometimes simple solutions don't really aid in super complex images. Understandably, however, this method may not be as advantageous to you if you're working with Clipping Masks or altering rasterized content. Instead of your machine rendering previews of every change you made, you can focus on the shapes and objects you're creating versus whether or not that Gaussian Blur has rendered for the 15th time.

Working in Outline Mode can speed up the process of working with vectors. Here are four quick tips for reducing lag and hopefully preventing your app from crashing. Expanding a pattern or brush can easily create lag in the average machine, and with Adobe Illustrator CC 2015's latest features, older machines may find it hard to keep up. Vector files can be huge, with so many layers, paths, anchor points, and effects.

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