Window > Type > Character : Nothing Happens!

[mattjon76]

I'm not sure what I've done, but I cannot pull up my Character tool bar. I've selected it under Window, but unlike every other toolbar, nothing happens. It has a check on it and it is nowhere on my workspace.

I've closed the program, restarted the computer, tried to reset my settings and still no Character toolbox.

Any suggestions? Has anyone experienced this before?

Help!!

 

[itchybug]

Matt:

You need to delete your aiprefs file. Lost character palette is a classic symptom of a corrupted aiprefs file.

The aiprefs is a file that Illustrator uses to keep your preferences (not just the ones in the Edit>Preferences menu, but also palette locations, specific tool settings etcetera) and each time you close Illustrator it writes to that file. For some reason, after a while the aiprefs file can become corrupted. Then, you need to delete it, which will restore Illustrator to factory defaults. Some people keep a good copy of aiprefs in a separate folder to simply drop it into place over the top of a corrupted one, some people (like me) make the prefs read-only to avoid having to re-customize everything each time a problem occurs.

What you need to do:

1. Close Illustrator (ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL);
2. Locate aiprefs. It has no file extension, and if you do a search you have to enable search for Hidden and System files. In XP, the location is:

File:///C:/Documents and Settings/Owner/Application Data/Adobe/Adobe Illustrator CS Settings

You can copy and paste that location directly into your browser's address bar, you may have to change "owner" to your user name. It will take you to the containing folder;
3. Delete the file;
4. Open Illustrator, customize, and then save a backup or make it read-only.

Hope this helps.

Bert

Bert Philippus

http://www.itchybug.com

http://www.amenpackaging.com

 

[mattjon76]

Brilliant!! Thanks Bert. That worked.

Thanks so much for the tip and for such a quick reply to my post. Lifesaver!

-Matt.

 

[itchybug]

Glad to help, Matt.

Bert Philippus

http://www.itchybug.com

http://www.amenpackaging.com