Illustrator (Desktop) Feature Requests
When entering a new feature request, please provide:
- Description
- Why is this valuable to you?
458 results found
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Create folders for brushes
Can we get the ability to create folders for brushes?
I would like to be able to group my brushes by length, width, style, color, etc. As it is now, I have to wait for the tooltip to show up before I know whether my brush is a medium, short, long stroke...
8 votes -
XD style snapping and spacing
Adobe Experience Design has a nice snapping and spacing function that would drastically increase the power of Illustrator. Being able to more easily repeat objects and adjust the spacing between them by clicking and dragging while being able to see a measure of the spacing.
8 votes -
Select objects to then apply auto selection criteria
Once objects are selected apply the auto select criteria such as "same fill color" or "same outline". If this is possible, I can't figure out how to do it. I can only choose to select all of the items of a single color, because I have items already selected. Also, it would be great for quotes to be able to get a quick total of the number of items selected. Is this information listed somewhere on screen that I've never noticed?
8 votes -
Remove overlapping lines
Exported CAD drawings often contain many overlapping lines.
This makes such drawings difficult and cumbersome to work with, and often makes Illustrator hang.
The possibility to select an entire group of objects and, via a tool in the Object menu, remove all lines which extend parallel to and within a certain threshold distance from another line, would be great.7 votes -
Vector Networks Like Figma Has
In illustrator vector shapes can only go in one continuous path. If you wanted to draw a cube, it would take 3 shapes, perfectly aligned and 12 points, 6 of which would overlap.
In a vector network a point can have multiple branches meaning that a cube could be one shape, with only 7 points (see image).
This feature would eliminate the need for complex shape overlays to create simple compositions, like a cube.7 votes -
Scale the graphs. SCALE THE GRAPHS. SCALE THE GRAPHS. SCALE THE GRAPHS.
WHY CAN'T WE SCALE GRAPHS. THIS IS SO BASIC. IS ADOBE BASIC? STOP BEING BASIC. SCALE THE GRAPHS.
This is a critical functionality for infographics and you've all but left it as something a child would have shown at an Adobe Max SNEAKS reveal with it's current level of development in comparison to the level the rest of the entire OS has reached.
7 votes -
Move selected anchors by coordinates
In InDesign when you select some specific anchor points on a path with the direct selection tool, and want to move them x- or y-wise, you can enter the value and hit return to make the selected points move accordingly. Or you can move them by dragging them.
Here is what it looks like:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/gk9qk6eqvdvn41p/indesign_points_moved.mov?dl=0If ypu try to do the same in Illustrator, it works as long as you drag the anchor points by hand, but if yo try to do it by entering x- or y-values the whole object moves, not only the anchor points selected.
Here is…7 votes -
Free transform should function the same as photoshop free transform
Free transform function in Illustrator is good, but to have another function that acts the same way as Free Transform in Photoshop would be really helpful.
7 votes -
Show object area dimensions in transform panel
would like to be able to have the area calculated of objects, regular and irregular.
Ideally it would be a field in the transform panel7 votes -
Easier way to do charts and graphs
PLEASE come up with an EASY and SEAMLESS way to export excel charts into Adobe Illustrator! Please! I have over 153 bar and pie charts I have to create from a pivot table in excel, which is arduous and time consuming. The chart feature in Illustrator is awful and confusing to use as well. I’ve been doing charts the same way for years by copy/pasting from excel into illustrator and having to remove about 10,000 clipping paths. Surely there is something you can that will make it easier to do charts. An extension? Maybe play nice with the @micsrosoft developers?…
7 votes -
3 points arc creation tool (as a live shape)
Arcs and 'pie' shapes created from the center point and specifying the start and end angles that remain 'live' after creation.
Same as in CorelDraw!... been using Illustrator for 15 years had to revert to Corel for this feature.7 votes -
Please support for CAD functions
Pleased support CAD functions natively in illustrator like CADtools or CAD-COMPO, I consider that these functions are very important.
7 votes -
Curvature tool doesn't work for path in Text on path
I have drawn a curve using Curvature tool.
I've made a text follow this curve.
I want now to edit this curve with Curvature tool, but I just can't — AI want recognize highlights and selects points in this path with this tool anymore.Kinda same happens with editing path in blends with Curvature tool — I have to dance with Ctrl, clicking, isolating, and then, after some combination of woodoo, AI finally sees points and allows to move them with said tool.
7 votes -
Offset Path - allow creation of non-joined segments
Would save a lot of time if Offset Path could create paths with or without joining them.
As it is now there are times when it's useful to have auto-joins and many times that it's not. Personally I end up spending a bunch of time deleting the joining path segments as I rarely use them in my workflow.
A simple solution would be to add an on/off toggle for [Join] right above the join type combo.
As well, per other requests, please can the panel remember the last-used settings for [Preview] on/off?
Thanks!
7 votes -
Please give us better Transparency tool like in CorelDraw and Affinity Designer
I'm fighting between working in Affinity Designer and Illustrator, AD has much better drawing tools, it's faster than Ai, but I love the familiarity of Ai. If you can give us better Gradient and Transparency tools like in AD that would be amazing! It would help speed up the coloring process when making more realistic artwork. See Screen shot from AD.
7 votes -
Retain length of handles when modifying curves and length of path when moving anchor points.
I'd love an option to retain the length of a handle for an anchor point. It would be nice to keep the curvature equal on both sides of an anchor point. There are many times I would have liked this option to create symmetrical graphics.
Similarly, I'd also like the option to retain the length of a path when moving an anchor point. Sometimes I use lines/paths as arms of characters. If I need to change the position of an arm there ends up being a lot of guess work modifying the path.
7 votes -
Change the cursor for Artboard Tool when a click is going to create a new object-sized artboard
When using Artboard Tool, you can do several things with a simple click.
1. Select an artboard under the cursor
2. Deselect an artboard if there is no artboards under the cursor
3. Create an artboard which size is the same as the object you click — but ONLY if the object is inside of the already selected artboard OR if the place you click is not inside of any artboard.This #3 case prevents deselecting artboards efficiently in cases when you don’t have 'naked canvas' inside of the viewport. And clicking is the only way to deselect artboards, since…
6 votes -
Make Global Edit work with guides
Guides in Illustrator are treated like objects. It does not suite everyone, and there is a request to make them a completely separate entity, like ones in InDesign, without them being able to get selected with 'normal' object, get grouped, etc.
Still, when a selection of a guide is made, it is expected for it to behave like a selection would do. We can transform them (rotate scale, flip, move), hide/lock individually... and it feels normal for a selected guide to be affected by the Global Edit feature.
However, it does not :(
6 votes -
Anchor point sliding (reposition point tool)
It would be nice to have an Anchor Point Slide function that transfers the anchor's position along the path without disturbing it, the same way nodes work in a 3D software. I find it very frustrating when I'm trying to reposition an anchor point without altering the path, but there's no way to do that.
6 votes -
Image trace to create smooth gradient fills instead of banded swatches
Image trace to create smooth gradient fills instead of banded swatches
6 votes
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