Preview error

[scott_kopp@adobeforums.com]

I've been using Illustrator 9.0.1 (running Windows 2000 Professional) for many months. I always use it in Preview mode, never in Outline mode. In the last few days I've been getting this error message: "Can't finish previewing." Then it switches to Outline mode.

It often happens when zooming in or out. There's nothing unusual about the files - they worked fine before. Can anyone tell me what the problem is?

Thanks for the help.

[BobHill@adobeforums.com]

Scott,

Preview mode takes up more resources (which is why Outline mode works so much faster), so I'm guessing your system resources are a bit low for what you are doing. Do you Defrag regularly, keep your active fonts down to around 150 or less, keep running programs to a minimum when running Illustrator? Be sure to have plenty of freespace, of course for both working drive and cache drive.

Have you tried deleting the AIPrefs file (check FAQ).

Bob

[scott_kopp@adobeforums.com]

Thanks for your help, Bob. The strange thing is that this suddenly started happening in the last week. About a week before I ran defrag. I deleted the AIPrefs, but the problem came back. And I regularly have multiple applications running every day without trouble. That's why I'm puzzled by this occurring so suddenly. As for fonts... well... that's just a mess.

Thanks again.

[BobHill@adobeforums.com]

Scott,

Active fonts take up resources and it's possible to have too many active to the extent you can run out of resources, especially if needing a defrag also. To still have a great many fonts (I have over 2000), you need to use an external font manager (Adobe's ATM Deluxe or Bitstream's Font Reserve) so you can install them all, then make custom sets that can be activated or deactivated with a click. You might wish to consider that.

Bob