Illustrator (Desktop) Feature Requests
When entering a new feature request, please provide:
- Description
- Why is this valuable to you?
51 results found
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Boolean modes for Selection tool: Add / Remove instead of Invert with Shift only
If you drag Selection Tool while holding Shift over already selected objects it deselects them. This can be very frustrating in some cases, for example if you have to carefully select and delete multiple patches of overlapping shapes. Instad of just holding Shift and dragging a selection box multiple times and then deleting, you have to select, delete, select again, delete and so on.
It would be nice for Shift key to only add to selection without deselecting, and (for example) for Alt key - to only subtract.
59 votes -
Allow Global Edit to work with Text, Clip groups, Images, etc.
Would love to see advance global editing. I've noticed that grouped, clip masked and text doesn't work with global editing. This will really speed things up for all adobe illustrator user.
17 votes -
Select same, with multiple selectable attributes and customisations
When using the Select Same feature we need a lot more options, like all objects with the same transparency effect AND opacity AND tint AND line weight etc, that can be selected from a list of attributes. Same sort of list as the options list for the Eyedropper Tool (see screenshot).
It should be split into sections that allow vectors graphics selections as above, but also things like selecting all linked items that are the same file AND the same size AND rotation AND opacity.
Selecting all text in a certain colour, font, size, style so they can be updated…
17 votes -
Select items in Layers in sync with objects on canvas
We have to work with a strange legacy dichotomy when making a selection in Layers is NOT equal to making a selection on canvas and vice versa.
No other vector application does it like this:
XD, Affinity Designer, Corel Draw, Figma, Xara, Inkscape...Other apps which have layered structures don’t do this also:
Photoshop, Blender, 3DS Max...InDesign and Illustrator are lonely black sheep in the flock of apps.
We need a mode (as an option) to be able to sync both selection methods.
Clicking an object on canvas should highlight the name of it in Layers.
Clicking a name…16 votes -
Select objects above / below current layer / object
Under the select menu I would like to see added an option to select all layers that are above/below the current layer. In my use case this would be best in the context of the current artboard.
For example, this could be used to select everything about a semitransparent overlay layer in web visuals showing a popup element.
16 votes -
An option to limit Select > Same / Object commands to the current or specific artboards
I would like the ability to use the "Select" tool to select similar items that appear only on one artboard. Illustrator will now select all similar items throughout the document, on all artboards. I need to be able to select similar items on a single artboard without affecting other artboards. This would save me a tremendous amount of time.
13 votes -
Select Same Appearance on a mixed selection
If I select an object with a particular appearance, I can call Select > Same > Appearance command to select all object which have the exact same stack of the appearance attributes.
But if I have two objects with different appearances, and want to select all objects that have the same appearance as any of them (either of two!) — nothing is going to happen!
The command is active, but the selection stays the same... Not cool.
Sure, I can first find the first batch, lock or hide it, and then do the same for the second object, then unlock/unhide…
12 votes -
Make a selection of objects from Global Edit
When using Global Edit to edit multiple instances of a grouped object (or any other object), it would be very useful to have an option to keep those objects selected when you leave Global Edit (in order to group them all together for instance).
12 votes -
Count objects
Count objects when using Select-->Same, Select-->Object, and "Start editing similar shapes together" commands. Sometimes "Start editing similar shapes together" does not select all similar shapes; therefore, an edit made using this feature may not edit all similar shapes, unbeknownst to the user. However, if I know how many shapes I have, then I can confirm that all shapes are selected when using these commands throughout the editing process. This is valuable because confirming the count of selections builds confidence that edits are made to all objects. Likewise, it also saves the editor time by mitigating the need to count all…
11 votes -
Highlight selected segments
Ai fails at displaying selected segments.
Here, in the GIF, both selections look identical — until I move the partially selected art. Only then I notice that the diagonal segment was selected in the left shape.This is a core and tough problem to solve, but it does not mean it’s OK to have it, because it leads to many errors often enough.
10 votes -
Add First Object Above / Last Object Below commands in Select menu
Illustrator provides two ways to access Next Object commands:
1. From Select menu
2. From the context menu, Select submenuAnd while the context menu provides four commands, the Select menu gives only two. First Object Above / Last Object Below — for no apparent reason — are missing, and we can’t assign hotkeys to these because of it.
Please add them there.
Also consider this request, to be able to select ALL objects above or below the current selection: https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657-illustrator-desktop-feature-requests/suggestions/34306246-select-objects-above-below-current-layer-objec
Note that this one is basically about 'select those who intersect', while we are also interested in 'select those…
9 votes -
Select Same / Larger / Smaller Size
The Select Same Color, Appearance, Opacity is quite helpful. Add a new option for Size. The area size of the current selected element would be calculated and then used to find other similar objects within the document that meet that same area size.
A tolerance up or down or range could be provided as well. It would also be helpful to offer a setting for "Select Anything this size and smaller/larger".
This kind of feature would be very helpful when attempting to clean up an illustration generated from a live traced sketch.
9 votes -
Treat all objects as filled for selection tools (like in Corel Draw)
Corel Draw has an option, 'Treat all objects as filled', which allows select objects with no fills with just a click inside. While it’s 'not the Ai way' — this can be useful in some cases.
Just make sure it works properly in the Outline view( that is does not get applied at all).8 votes -
Select Same Fill Color & Stroke Color
'Select Same Fill & Stroke' command from Select > Same menu also includes stroke weight. But sometimes we need to ignore it and search only by colors.
So basically we have no 'Select Same Fill Color & Stroke Color' command...
....no wait. We do have this command!
It is just well hidden.For some reason it is available only as an option in the dropdown menu for the Select Similar Objects button — but not in the menu. Please make these two sources match and combine both lists.
8 votes -
Selection panel - supercharged customisable selection options
- A new Select panel.
*User-defined search permeameters with logical operators, and access to all relevant properties and object types in the document object model. Ability to extend and refine a search by multiple parameters.
*User-defined labels for objects, with which users can create their own custom searches (eg. ”figure”, ”house”, “red team”, “platform” etc.).
This would make me A Happy(er) Bunny.
8 votes -
Add a 'Select More' menu option
When working with a very busy file, it's often much easier to select an anchor or line segment than an object.
My idea is to have a menu option that selects the object or objects which currently have anchors or line segments selected.
A user could select an object by first selecting one of its anchors, and then using this menu option.
If the user hits this feature multiple times, it could continue to 'select more' by, for example, selecting all siblings within the current group, and then the group itself, and then the group's siblings etc.
7 votes -
Do not select both the clipping mask and the clipped contents with Select All while in isolation
When we isolate a clipping group, it’s like we are jumping in a whole in a canvas and start dealing with what’s behind it. Whatever we move while inside isolated, would be visible through the hole.
So when we say Select All while being isolated, we usually don’t mean 'Select the stuff behind the hole and the hole itself' — it’s about clipped content only. Otherwise why isolate in the first place?
Select contents only first and and the clipping mask to the selection only when Select All is called again, if the clipped content is fully selected already. Display…
6 votes -
Subdivide a segment between two selected points
Hi Illustrator Dev,
how about adding an option to subdivide a segment between two points.The menu button "add anchor points" subdivides all object, adding unnecessary points.
See my screenshot
Thanks6 votes -
Inertia scrolling aka "flick panning"
Scrolling around artboards should adhere to the OS standards of having some momentum to scrolling, or at least the option to enable "flick panning" like Ps
6 votesBeta 29.1.0.93 now has Flick Pan option, enabled by default, located in Preferences > Performance.
At the moment it works only for trackpad and Hand tool, not for middle-mouse pan or Spacebar pan.
Please try it and comment back.
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Select similar colors (with a tolerance slider) so you can round up and streamline elements in a messy document
This is basically a tolerance slider added to Select>Same>Fill Color. It would just allow you to cast a wider net to quickly select colors and convert them to a single global color. It's very hard to track down a color that's 1% off from the others in a complex file otherwise. It could also help process multi-color graphics into a limited color palette more efficiently
6 votes
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