Fireworks Canvas Size Limitation

Anyone know if it's possible to remove firework's canvas size
limit? I have a friend who loves to use fireworks for graphics
design and he says that it has a canvas size limit of around 8ft,
but he likes to design really large images and doesn't want to
switch to another product. He contacted me because I do some
development, but I think this may be out of my league. He is
willing to pay for any help to this problem. Thanks.

jeremyhein wrote:
> Thanks again for all your responses. Yes, I do have a
stubborn
> friend, but I understand because I'm also very stubborn
which is why
> I write a lot of my own software.
I'm actually a very stubborn guy myself so I get that... but
I'm mostly
a pragmatist. One of the things I hate the most is wasting my
time, and
trying to use the wrong tool for a job like this is exactly
that... a
waste of time and ultimately, money. His stubbornness in this
matter is
probably hurting his bottom line as well as his client's.
I'd be curious to know what exactly he finds in Fireworks
that is so
compelling that he wants to use it above much more
appropriate tools.
Illustrator, InDesign or even FreeHand all have features that
would make
his job a lot easier than trying to do it in Fireworks.
Furthermore, the
assets he'd create in any of those apps would be much more
easily
re-usable in other mediums. Also, why isn't he posting in
this forum
himself?
Stéphane Bergeron
reach : connect : communicate
http://www.webfocusdesign.com
blog : tutorials : articles : gallery
http://www.pixelyzed.com

Similar Messages

  • Adobe Generator: yes! but do not crop my canvas size (option)

    Adobe Generator= Is not there an option where I can maintain original canvas size position? ?
    I mean: I love that the generator slices and exports each individual layer element into a single file .. thats good BUT..
    but I do not want that the auto-cropping feature of export each single image into its exact dimensions >> I do want an option where you can maintain the original canvas size and element's position within the canvas space..    is that possible? 
    GRAPHICALLY it is instead of this:  ///  I want an OPTION that automatically do this:
    and we'll love that feature in Fireworks CC please !!!!

    Silkrooster wrote:
    I am not really seeing the need for it. If that was the case, it would make more sense to save the entire document.
    There is plenty need for it. For one, not every project is a web site where CSS is even relevant. But if you have a large stack of icons, it is often incredibly inefficient to position them all individually with CSS instead of just exporting them as PNGs with matching dimensions. It also gives you better control over the scaling; for example, if you have 2px strokes that are going to be scaled to 50% on export, you want to align them to a 2px grid so they don't go fuzzy.
    In my case I often need to export large batches (hundreds) of logos, which all need to be exported at canvas size and not trimmed to endless random sizes. The layer mask hack sounds like a lifesaver, but has plenty of shortcomings. It should be easy enough to add it as a simple parameter, and it would save a lot of time and hassle for a lot of users.

  • DLP Attachment Scanning - Size Limitations

    Is it documented anywhere what the attachment file size limitations are for DLP scanning?  In the ESA Configuration documentation I read:
    "To scan attachments, the content scanning engine extracts the attachment for the RSA Email DLP scanning engine to scan." 
    Can you identify what scanning engine is referenced by "content scanning engine" and what is the maximum attachment size it can process?  Also are those settings modifiable and some indcation of performance impact if they are increased to a maximum of 50 MB per attachment?
    I know you can make some modifications in the DLP policy, however it is our desire to DLP scan every document sent up to our allowable maximum email size.
    If large attachments cannot be scanned we may be forced to reduce our maximum message/attachment file size. 
    We are currently using Async O/S 7.5.1-102 and will be moving to 7.6.0 when it comes GA.

    Hello David,
    The content scanning engine in reference is the same AsyncOS scanning engine responsible or Message and Content Filter scanning. The maximum size of attachment to scan for this scanning engine is controlled by your 'scanconfig' setttings, as configured in the IronPort CLI. The default 'maximum size of attachment to scan' is 5MB.
    IronPort1.example.com>scanconfig
    There are currently 6 attachment type mappings configured to be SKIPPED.
    Choose the operation you want to perform:
    - NEW - Add a new entry.
    - DELETE - Remove an entry.
    - SETUP - Configure scanning behavior.
    - IMPORT - Load mappings from a file.
    - EXPORT - Save mappings to a file.
    - PRINT - Display the list.
    - CLEAR - Remove all entries.
    - SMIME - Configure S/MIME unpacking.
    []> setup
    1. Scan only attachments with MIME types or fingerprints in the list.
    2. Skip attachments with MIME types or fingerprints in the list.
    Choose one:
    [2]>
    Enter the maximum depth of attachment recursion to scan:
    [5]>
    Enter the maximum size of attachment to scan:
    [5242880]>
    <...>
    Any message that is larger than this limit will be skipped by the scanning engine. This would mean that pertinent DLP policys and filters would not match that same message. Naturally, allowing larger messages to be scanned will result in performance risks, as more system resources would be required to complete the content scanning.
    Regards,
    -Jerry

  • A script to increase the minimum canvas size? (Like Fit Image, but with just my canvas)

    For starters to be clear, I'm looking to manipulate canvas size. Not image size.
    I want to create a script to automatically increase the width and height of my canvas in Photoshop to a specific size when necessary. I only want this to happen if my canvas is less than that specified size. For example: Let's say my canvas size is 300x250. I want the canvas to be at LEAST 600x600. If I run my action it will increase the canvas size to 600x600 for me. If I run this same script on an image where the canvas size is already 700x700, it won't do anything at all to it because both the width and height are equal to or greater than my target size.
    It would also need to work with the height and width on an individual basis. If my image is 400x800, the action would increase my width from 400 to 600, but it would leave the height of 800 alone. So the final canvas size will end up being 600x800.
    It's kind of like the "Fit Image" option in Photoshop, but I only want to manipulate my canvas size, NOT my image size.

    It is possible.
    But if you hope that the dialog remembers the last settings that would require storing those values (which could be done with a txt-file at some pre-defined location), but it would make the Script a bit more complicated.
    // resize canvas in either direction if it is below a defined minimum;
    // 2011; use it at your own risk;
    #target photoshop
    if (app.documents.length > 0) {
    // dialog;
    var dlg = new Window("dialog", "increase width and height if under", [500,300,750,380]);
    // filter for checking if entry is numeric, thanks to xbytor;
    numberKeystrokeFilter = function() {
              if (this.text.match(/[^\-\.\d]/)) {
                        this.text = this.text.replace(/[^\d]/g, "")
              if (Number(this.text <= 0)) {this.text = 5};
              this.text = Math.round(Number(this.text));
    // fields for entry;
    dlg.hor = dlg.add("edittext", [14,15,88,35], "600", {multiline:false});
    dlg.hor.onChange = numberKeystrokeFilter;
    dlg.horText = dlg.add("statictext", [93,15,118,35], "px", {multiline:false});
    dlg.ver = dlg.add("edittext", [129,15,210,35], "600", {multiline:false});
    dlg.ver.onChange = numberKeystrokeFilter;
    dlg.verText = dlg.add("statictext", [215,15,240,35], "px", {multiline:false});
    dlg.hor.active = true;
    // ok- and cancel-button;
    dlg.buildBtn = dlg.add("button", [13,45,118,68], "OK", {name:"ok"});
    dlg.cancelBtn = dlg.add("button", [128,45,240,68], "Cancel", {name:"cancel"});
    // show dialog;
    dlg.center();
    // show dialog;
    var myReturn = dlg.show ();
    // proceed if ok-ed;
    if (myReturn == 1) {
    var myDocument = app.activeDocument;
    // set to pixels;
    var originalRulerUnits = app.preferences.rulerUnits;
    app.preferences.rulerUnits = Units.PIXELS;
    // set the minimum values;
    var minWidth = Number(dlg.hor.text);
    var minHeight = Number(dlg.ver.text);
    // get current ones;
    var theWidth = myDocument.width;
    var theHeight = myDocument.height;
    // resize canvas;
    myDocument.resizeCanvas(Math.max(minWidth, theWidth), Math.max(minHeight, theHeight), AnchorPosition.MIDDLECENTER);
    // reset;
    app.preferences.rulerUnits = originalRulerUnits;

  • Exchange 2013 Mail Size Limits

    I am having an issue with setting the max send and receive size on Exchange 2013.  I keep getting the following error when I attempt to send a 20 meg file server to an internal exchange account OR if I attempt to send a 20 meg file from the exchange
    server to an external account: 
    #550 5.3.4
    ROUTING.SizeLimit; message size exceeds fixed maximum size for route ##
    I have checked the mail sizes and below is the report.  I currently have both send and receive set to 100MB.  Is there some other setting in 2013 that I am not aware of?
    AnonymousSenderToRecipientRatePerHour                       : 1800
    ClearCategories                                            
    : True
    ConvertDisclaimerWrapperToEml                               : False
    DSNConversionMode                                          
    : UseExchangeDSNs
    ExternalDelayDsnEnabled                                     : True
    ExternalDsnDefaultLanguage                                  :
    ExternalDsnLanguageDetectionEnabled                         : True
    ExternalDsnMaxMessageAttachSize                             : 100 MB (104,857,600 bytes)
    ExternalDsnReportingAuthority                               :
    ExternalDsnSendHtml                                        
    : True
    ExternalPostmasterAddress                                   :
    GenerateCopyOfDSNFor                                        :
    HygieneSuite                                               
    : Standard
    InternalDelayDsnEnabled                                     : True
    InternalDsnDefaultLanguage                                  :
    InternalDsnLanguageDetectionEnabled                         : True
    InternalDsnMaxMessageAttachSize                             : 100 MB (104,857,600 bytes)
    InternalDsnReportingAuthority                               :
    InternalDsnSendHtml                                        
    : True
    InternalSMTPServers                                        
    JournalingReportNdrTo                                       : <>
    LegacyJournalingMigrationEnabled                            : False
    LegacyArchiveJournalingEnabled                              : False
    LegacyArchiveLiveJournalingEnabled                          : False
    RedirectUnprovisionedUserMessagesForLegacyArchiveJournaling : False
    RedirectDLMessagesForLegacyArchiveJournaling                : False
    MaxDumpsterSizePerDatabase                                  : 18 MB (18,874,368 bytes)
    MaxDumpsterTime                                            
    : 7.00:00:00
    MaxReceiveSize                                             
    : 100 MB (104,857,600 bytes)
    MaxRecipientEnvelopeLimit                                   : 500
    MaxRetriesForLocalSiteShadow                                : 2
    MaxRetriesForRemoteSiteShadow                               : 4
    MaxSendSize                                                
    : 100 MB (104,857,600 bytes)
    MigrationEnabled                                           
    : False
    OpenDomainRoutingEnabled                                    : False
    RejectMessageOnShadowFailure                                : False
    Rfc2231EncodingEnabled                                      : False
    SafetyNetHoldTime                                          
    : 2.00:00:00
    ShadowHeartbeatFrequency                                    : 00:02:00
    ShadowMessageAutoDiscardInterval                            : 2.00:00:00
    ShadowMessagePreferenceSetting                              : PreferRemote
    ShadowRedundancyEnabled                                     : True
    ShadowResubmitTimeSpan                                      : 03:00:00
    SupervisionTags                                            
    : {Reject, Allow}
    TLSReceiveDomainSecureList                                  : {}
    TLSSendDomainSecureList                                     : {}
    VerifySecureSubmitEnabled                                   : False
    VoicemailJournalingEnabled                                  : True
    HeaderPromotionModeSetting                                  : NoCreate
    Xexch50Enabled                                             
    : True

    Hello Landfish,
    Good Day...
    The output gives the information that Size limit set for Receive and Send is 100 mb, but setting could have changed. So you can follow the below steps to resolve the issue. 
    There are basically three places where you can configure default message size limits on Exchange:
    Organization transport settings
    Send/receive connector settings
    User mailbox settings.
    To check your server’s current limit you can open Exchange Management Shell
    Try the below commands to check the Message quota size limit
    get-transportconfig | ft maxsendsize, maxreceivesize
    get-receiveconnector | ft name, maxmessagesize
    get-sendconnector | ft name, maxmessagesize
    get-mailbox Administrator |ft Name, Maxsendsize, maxreceivesize
    To change the above size limits based on your requirement.
    Set-TransportConfig -MaxSendSize 200MB -MaxReceiveSize 500MB (Size is based on your requirement)
    Attachment size limit
    To set up the rule you can use the below PowerShell cmdlet, as the method is quite simple
    New-TransportRule -Name LargeAttach -AttachmentSizeOver 20MB -RejectMessageReasonText "Message attachment size over 20MB - email rejected."
    For More info
    https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb124708(v=exchg.150).aspx
    Remember to mark as helpful if you find my contribution useful or as an answer if it does answer your question.That will encourage me - and others - to take time out to help you Check out my latest blog posts @ Techrid.com

  • How to Get Around the Memo Size Limitations in CR ?

    I am Using Crystal Reports 2008, SQL Database and ASP .Net Visual Studio 2010 for Team Foundation with Crystal Viewer embedded in a web page.  All current update and patches area installed.
    Database has Memo Fields up to 164000 characters in length. Viewer show fine, but with the reports that have been designed to print this information, only seeing part of the Memo field.
    This happens with both RTF, Text and HTML formatted data from within the database field.
    I have read that there is a limitation on the size of a Memo field that Crystal Reports will print (65,534).
    I actually received an Crystal Reports error box when i try to concatenate multiple substring fields as a formula.
    Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas on a work-around ? 
    Due to legal considerations, this data has to be output as it was input, so it can't be hacked. It can be parsed and again merged  but I really donu2019t want to try and write SQL procedures to parse HTML code into readable multiple pieces based on variable length tags with large memo fields.
    Please offer any and every suggestion,
    Thanks to all  ! !
    Edited by: Ludek Uher on Oct 21, 2010 1:31 PM

    yes sir,
    already did but i didn't receive any answers. . .   Memo Field Size Limitations with Crystal Reports 2008 ?
    Thanks for your help.

  • Is there a plug in to resize the canvas size in Illustrator CS6?  Not the artboard, the canvas size

    Is there a plug in to resize the canvas size in Illustrator CS6?  Not the artboard, the canvas size

    Reckon that’s what he must mean
    Are you sure, Steve?
    Kurt may agree.

  • Adobe Photoshop cs4-What Does Canvas Size Really Mean?

    What are we actually looking at when we place a picture on a canvas?
    For example, if I have a canvas of a width of 800 and a height of 1500 it appears on the screen to my eyes to be about 3 inches by 7 inches.
    Then let's say I add the headline: Risk takers of all kinds think the same.
    This headline will possibly take three rows to complete itself.
    But then I can make the same canvas fit the screen.
    Now the entire headline will fit on one row.
    What confuses me is which image of the canvas is a "what-you-see-is-what-you-get" in terms of how it will actually look on my webpage?
    In other words I guess my real question is how do I start with a canvas size that actually reflects my webpage or a defineable portion of it.
    Thank You,
    Jerry

    You'll have to forgive me but at times I'm not really sure what I'm talking about or doing.
    But an image or other content is built on layer canvas' I think?
    It gets all confusing because you may or may not fill a canvas with an image?
    Assuming you do fill a canvas with an image then I think the pixel dimensions and resolution will be directly tied to the canvas size?
    But I don't think any of that is my real point.
    I'll try to speak to my confusion using words other than those I first used.
    For example let's say you are making a squeeze page for your website.
    So you start with a headline that reads as follows: INTERNET MARKETER STICKS TO HIS GUM!
    Let's say those words are in large print.
    On my computer and I am using a small screen, if I create a canvas of a width =800 and height=1500 it occupies a space of
    of about 3" by 7". 
    Now (and this part is now becoming like what I wrote above) those six words in large letters will occupy three to four rows on my computer.
    So in my mind I am thinking that when I eventually publish that page that the headline should occupy four lines. Make sense?
    But if I click the "fit to screen" Photoshop button, the canvas becomes larger on my screen and the entire headline will now fit on a "single" line.
    So now in my mind I am thinking that when I eventually publish that page that the headline should occupy one line.  See my problem?
    I guess my point is am I looking at WYSIWYG in the first, second or neither case?
    In other words what is the meaning of what I see when I look at a canvas?
    Thank you for your help.
    Here's one more attempt.
    Let's say you spend 12 hours designing a canvas in Photoshop that you thought would properly fill your webpage, and then you discover to your dismay that instead of your headline fitting properly only 37% of it does.  This would make you very unhappy and perhaps others.
    So what I'm trying to understand as a beginner is how does what I see on a canvas in Photoshop cs4 relate to a webpage.

  • How do I modify the size limitation on images in PSE 12?

      I frequently use panorama tools in Photoshop CS6 & CC and PSE 12 to generate large images (several sunsets/sunrises reach as much as 370 MB or more --- PNG or TIF without layers).  It apears that PSE 12 (and previous) have a limit less than a tenth of that.  I also understand that there is a registry fix which would allow for larger images to be displayed. 
      A) Is that so?
       B)  What is the patch?
       C)  What are the (unintended) consequences?
      I use Win 7 Pro.  One machine is 32 bit; the primary production machine, 64 bit.  Thanks

    Everything you need to know about PSE maximum sizes is in http://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop-elements/kb/maximum-image-size-limits-photoshop.html.
    The registry fix you are thinking of affects the Organizer only. The Editor has an absolute limit of 30,000 x 30,000 pixels. File size itself is not the constraining factor.
    Cheers,
    Neale
    Insanity is hereditary, you get it from your children
    If this post or another user's post resolves the original issue, please mark the posts as correct and/or helpful accordingly. This helps other users with similar trouble get answers to their questions quicker. Thanks.

  • Nio ByteBuffer and memory-mapped file size limitation

    I have a question/issue regarding ByteBuffer and memory-mapped file size limitations. I recently started using NIO FileChannels and ByteBuffers to store and process buffers of binary data. Until now, the maximum individual ByteBuffer/memory-mapped file size I have needed to process was around 80MB.
    However, I need to now begin processing larger buffers of binary data from a new source. Initial testing with buffer sizes above 100MB result in IOExceptions (java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: Map failed).
    I am using 32bit Windows XP; 2GB of memory (typically 1.3 to 1.5GB free); Java version 1.6.0_03; with -Xmx set to 1280m. Decreasing the Java heap max size down 768m does result in the ability to memory map larger buffers to files, but never bigger than roughly 500MB. However, the application that uses this code contains other components that require the -xMx option to be set to 1280.
    The following simple code segment executed by itself will produce the IOException for me when executed using -Xmx1280m. If I use -Xmx768m, I can increase the buffer size up to around 300MB, but never to a size that I would think I could map.
    try
    String mapFile = "C:/temp/" + UUID.randomUUID().toString() + ".tmp";
    FileChannel rwChan = new RandomAccessFile( mapFile, "rw").getChannel();
    ByteBuffer byteBuffer = rwChan.map( FileChannel.MapMode.READ_WRITE,
    0, 100000000 );
    rwChan.close();
    catch( Exception e )
    e.printStackTrace();
    I am hoping that someone can shed some light on the factors that affect the amount of data that may be memory mapped to/in a file at one time. I have investigated this for some time now and based on my understanding of how memory mapped files are supposed to work, I would think that I could map ByteBuffers to files larger than 500MB. I believe that address space plays a role, but I admittedly am no OS address space expert.
    Thanks in advance for any input.
    Regards- KJ

    See the workaround in http://bugs.sun.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=4724038

  • Is there a file size limitation to using this service?

    I am working on a large PDF file (26 mb) and I need to re-size the original and mess with the margins. I don't beleive there is an easy way to do this in Adobe Acrobat 6.0 Pro. It sounds like I have to convert the file back to a Word document, do the adjustments there and then produce a new PDF. I have two questions:
    Is there a file size limitation to using this service?
    Will a PDF to Word doc. conversion mantain the format of the orginal PDF?
    Thanks
    Tim

    Good day Tim,
    There is a 100MB file size limitation for submitting files to the ExportPDF service.  As for the quality of the conversion, from our FAQ entitled Will Adobe ExportPDF convert both text and formatting information?:
    Adobe ExportPDF is capable of exporting high quality information, but the quality of your Word or Excel document depends on the quality of the PDF file you start with. For instance, if your PDF file was originally authored in Microsoft Word or Excel and converted to PDF using the PDFMaker functionality of Adobe Acrobat®, your PDF file contains a rich set of information that can be captured by Adobe ExportPDF. This includes relative positioning of tables, images, and even multi-column text, as well as page, paragraph, and font attributes.
    If your PDF file was originally authored using simpler PDF generation methods, such as “print to PDF” or “scan to PDF” options, Adobe ExportPDF will convert any recognizable text and then use sophisticated conversion intelligence to preserve as much of the page layout as possible.
    Please let us know if you have any other questions!
    Kind regards,
    David

  • Change canvas size in Final Cut Express?

    I completed an animation in FCE before I realized that I did something foolish: My animation frames are shot in HD (1920x1080), but I failed to set my canvas size, which is NTSC. Now, when I export my animation, the video size is distorted.
    Is there a way to change the canvas size of a movie so that it applies to existing sequences? Or, can a sequence's dimensions be changed? And, if not, can anyone recommend a workaround? I'm dealing with several thousand individual animation frames, so starting from scratch isn't an option for me.

    You can't. FCE is a fixed resolution editing application, either DV or HD at 1080 or 720.

  • PDF Page Size does not match Canvas Size

    Hello,
    I'm using Xcelsius 2008 Engage SP1 on Vista 64bit with Office 2007 installed. When I'm exporting a Xcelsius file to PDF, the resulting Page Size of the PDF file is 8.5in x 11in. However, the Canvas size in Xcelsius is 800x600 (pixels). The resulting PDF file has quite a bit of whitespace in the top and bottom sections of the file.
    Is there anyway that I can export to PDF but with a file size that is in the same aspect ratio than the Canvas Size?
    Thanks for any input.
    Regards,
    Jon

    We regularly export to PDF and face this issue.  I believe that the adjustments need to be made in Acrobat as there is, from my understanding, no way to change the default export in Xcelsius.  You are probably already be doing this, but if not ... our solution has been, once you have exported your model into Acrobat, to simply rotate the page before saving the file.  At 800 x 600 you may still have some white space at the top and bottom of your model.  We typically use an Xcelsius canvas size of 1100 x 850.  When exported (and rotated in Acrobat) this gives a nice crisp image that also fills the page.  I hope this helps you.

  • Batch Process Change Canvas Size Buggy

    I have 300+ products shots that need to go up to our website.
    Using FW CS3 I was able to resize and optimize both full size
    images and the thumbnails. The issue is due to our website setup
    the thumbnails are expected to be exactly 100x100. If the canvas
    size is irregular the image gets stretched or squeezed when served
    up on the site.
    So I created a custom action to set the canvas size to 100 x
    100 with a white background and to expand from the center out. When
    I run this manually everything is ducky. But when I add it to my
    batch process the actual content of the thumbnails moves from image
    to image. Some items are centered fine, some are too far left or
    too far right (or high,low) some are shifted so much that they are
    actually cut off to the left or right. There seems to be no rhyme
    or reason to it.
    Here is how the batch is set up:
    It grabs the original file ( a press resolution PSD file) and
    fit to size to 100 x 100. Then I run the command to set canvas size
    to 100x100 white background. And then it exports it to optimized
    jpeg. I have tried running the actions separately. And when I just
    run the fit to size and optimization as a batch the thumbs look
    fine no weird positioning. So I know it is the command.
    Any ideas?

    Thankyou Heath
    If I choose scale > scale to fit area > then choose a maximum width or height, that works for that part of the process.
    Percentage doesn’t work, because I need them to be a particular size (either width or height, doesn’t matter , as long as nither of them exceeds 00px)
    For the part that I then want to find the smallest measurement (width or height) and make a particular size, there doesn’t seem to be any way that I can find in FW to do that.
    But, after searching on line, I found an app that does all that and more, its brilliant.  It will find the largest side, the smallest side, or whatever and change it to what you want and rescale the other side to fit.
    This is the link - http://www.rw-designer.com/picture-resize
    Fiona

  • Maximum Artboard Size (Not Canvas Size)

    Hi,
    I read that maximum canvas size is 227in but Illustrator CC on both mac and windows and several different computer does not allow me to exceed 120in x 120 in. I can change my artboard size manually (shift+o) and drag the corners to 227inches but the number on the right upper corner is stuck on 120 inches. So what is the maximum size that I can work in Illustrator? If it is 227in why can't I make an Artboard bigger than 120 inches? And to avoid more confusion what is the canvas and what is the art board?
    Thank you

    mus,
    When things become seriously weird, as in your case, it may be worth trying the list (you have been through 1) and 2) already, and I would suggest your skipping 3) and 5), which leaves 4) and 6).
    The following is a general list of things you may try when the issue is not in a specific file, and when it is not caused by issues with opening a file from external media, see below. You may have tried/done some of them already; 1) and 2) are the easy ones for temporary strangenesses, and 3) and 4) are specifically aimed at possibly corrupt preferences); 5) is a list in itself, and 6) is the last resort.
    If possible/applicable, you should save current artwork first, of course.
    1) Close down Illy and open again;
    2) Restart the computer (you may do that up to at least 5 times);
    3) Close down Illy and press Ctrl+Alt+Shift/Cmd+Option+Shift during startup (easy but irreversible);
    4) Move the folder (follow the link with that name) with Illy closed (more tedious but also more thorough and reversible), for CS3 - CC you may find the folder here:
    https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/kb/preference-file-location-illustrator.html
    5) Look through and try out the relevant among the Other options (follow the link with that name, Item 7) is a list of usual suspects among other applications that may disturb and confuse Illy, Item 15) applies to CC, CS6, and maybe CS5);
    Even more seriously, you may:
    6) Uninstall (ticking the box to delete the preferences), run the Cleaner Tool (if you have CS3/CS4/CS5/CS6/CC), and reinstall.
    http://www.adobe.com/support/contact/cscleanertool.html

Maybe you are looking for