Illustrator (Desktop) Feature Requests
When entering a new feature request, please provide:
- Description
- Why is this valuable to you?
4575 results found
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Add TIFF format into Export for Screens / Assets dialog
We need a way to export assets (and artboards) as TIFFs using modern Export for Screens / Assets dialog.
81 votes -
Symmetrical Anchor Point Handles snapping
It would be incredibly helpful if the handles of an anchor point could be positioned symmetrically and equidistant, as shown in the attached image. This feature would streamline the design process by eliminating the need to create half a path, copy it, and mirror it.
Thank you for considering this feature request!
54 votes -
Add ability to hyperlink text (properly this time)
In June of 2023 the Illustrator team fixed a old bug with hyperlinks added through Attributes panel being dropped while exporting as PDF.
The team thought of it as a solution to this request: http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/40418827 — and marked it as such.I do not agree.
The solution is nowhere final, done in the most basic way possible, merely a bug fixed, like if no-one in the team did try to make it useful at the level of today's standards.
— A partial text selection can't be made into a hyperlink.
— No widgets are given on the canvas to see…47 votes -
Allow to make folders in Appearance Panel
Appearance are the most powerful feature of Illustrator, but the learning curve is difficult and for Advanced User it's difficult to manage and remember what are doing what in a Complex Appearance (cf. Screenshot where I had to use Colors to identify properties…)
Please allow to have folders in the panel (like in Ps: "Pass Trough" blend mode, knockout, vector mask based on "Convert to shape" with 9 points proxy…)
It will be more easier to understand Complex Appearance samples and for Advanced users, it will be way more efficient.
Another related request:
Allow to rename attributes (fills, strokes, effects)…27 votes -
Make Enclosed Selection Mode a permanent option
Illustrator now allows to use Enclosed Mode to select objects within the marquee (originally requested here: http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/31863601), but the only way to do it is tap E key.
I agree that this basic feature is essential, but I don't agree that any modifier keys or specific dragging directions (like requested here: http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/49489604) should be required. Shift-drag is already used to add to the selection, so that won't work.
Opt/Alt toggles duplication, and both can be toggled mid-drag (unlike in Photoshop).
This should be a selectable selection mode (also with a hotkey), and in fact there should be a…
19 votes -
CAD like selection (direction of the marquee toggles Enclosed mode)
Illustrator now allows to use Enclosed Mode to select objects within the marquee (originally requested here: http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/31863601), but the only way to do it is tap E key.
Make an option to enable this method also:
Click - Left drag: select everything INSIDE the marquee.
Click - Right drag: select everything CROSSING the marquee.Many CAD programs work this way. It makes selections much simpler.
16 votes -
Display color values for named swatches when hovering
Illustrator automatically names swatches by their color values and displays these names when we hover over swatches in panels.
But if we rename a swatch, Illustrator displays just the name, but not the color formula.
InDesign does the opposite — always shows the color values when we hover, but not the name.I’d like to see both. Yes, I know that for the automatically named swatches it’d mean both the name made of values will be displayed along with the actual values... but you can solve it with the InDesign’s 'Name with Color Value' option for swatches.
10 votes -
Center Pattern Command
Draw a vector shape and fill with a pattern, notice this is not centered. To do this is a long meticulous process prone to error.
https://forums.adobe.com/thread/2390290.
Can we get an option in the Align panel to do this?
19 votes -
Allow to customize the Contextual Task Bar
I want to be able to customize the Contextual Task Bar, add the functions I need to the panel (tools, menus, actions, scripts, etc.). Please add a configurator like in the toolbar.
14 votes -
File > Adobe PDF Presets menu, to have even faster PDF export options
Starting with build 28.6, we can now Export As PDF (thanks to this request: http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/32841790)
This works alongside with a pervious lesser known method: Save a Copy, as PDF.
However, exporting a PDF copy to make a quick 'snapshot' still feels slow — we get a dialog and have to choose a preset we want to use.
Meanwhile InDesign offers a handy configurable menu that allows to skip format options and go with a chosen preset, like the attached screenshot shows.
Please make a similar menu.
37 votes -
Allow to set custom default layer colors, with options
In 2017 we asked to allow to customize colors for layers, so that edges drawn for object didn’t burn our eyes out: http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/31535431
In 2020 Illustrator team removed yellow color from the default 5th color for new layers, shifting the order, but never did anything with cyan, gray, black...
We need an ability to set up our own order for these colors.
We need to be able to store these as presets, so we can switch these.
We need a way to make a certain order preferred in a template or a document profile.
We need an ability to remap…
35 votes -
Copy and paste with drag and right click mouse like CorelDRAW
I hope to see in illustrator copy and paste with (drag and right click mouse) like CorelDRAW
6 votes -
Scale tool with value input and custom anchor
I'm not necessarily looking for a script—I’m just curious if a tool could be developed to enhance Illustrator’s Scale tool. Specifically, I’d love the ability to input a custom scale value (e.g., uniformly 125%, 100% height, 20% width, etc.) while also being able to position a custom anchor point, as currently available in the Scale tool.
I understand that the Transform Each function allows users to select individual objects, input values, and place an anchor point. However, this feature has limitations:
The anchor point can only be placed within the object's bounds.
To uniformly scale multiple objects, users must group…3 votes -
Keep a partial selection of points unchanged when using Undo
Procedure:
- Make a complex selection of several points of an object with the Direct Selection Tool (white arrow)
- Double-click the Direct Selection Tool in the Toolbar (or press Enter) to bring up the transform dialog
- Enter values and confirm transformation with OK
- Undo
- The selection switches to entire object.
9 votes -
Treat groups as a result of Unite and not Intersect when using as a clipping mask
If we put a group on top of some art, select them together and create a clipping mask from this top group and the art below, usually we won’t see anything, as if it does not work.
We expect Illustrator to treat the group as a result of Unite operation, but actually it is Intersected instead. This is hardly useful. and if we wanted to use an intersection of parts, we’d clip with a compound intersecting shape probably.
Please give us a way a to choose the default treatment for a group used as a clipping mask. I assume it…
10 votes -
Allow to collapse all items in Appearance panel
The Appearance panel looks somewhat similar to Layers, but it differs in many ways, excluding several QOL methods to deal with large amount of items.
For example, one can Opt/Alt-click a bracket next to a layer or a group in Layers to collapse unfurl all the children within it.
Sure, Layers miss just a button to do it as well, and there is a request about it here at UV (http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/42451084) — but Appearance just don’t have any method to collapse the items (and these do unfurl all the time — take a look at this bug report: …
11 votes -
Stop covering the document tabs with expanded docked panels
If I dock panels to sides of the application frame, expanding the ones from the top panel groups will cover the document tabs, like the GIF shows.
In a situation when it’s important to know what is the current document (they can differ slightly) this is especially irritating.Please nudge them down a bit!
6 votes -
True vector blur / feather, similar to one Rive has
Quite recently Rive introduced Vector Feathering: https://rive.app/blog/introducing-vector-feathering
Illustrator uses raster-based Feather and Gaussian Blur, and — let’s admit it — we need them better: resolution-independent, infinitely scalable.
Instead we got just 'faster blur'...And while you are here — there are many more blur-realted requests:
– Motion blur: http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/32403883
– Background blur: http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/36614008
– Gradient Feather: http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/31911052
and more.Stop toying with text-to-raster-then-trace toys!
7 votes -
Force swatches when directly opening an image
When we drag-n-drop / open an image into Illustrator, a new document is created with an artboard created to fit the image (when possible), and the image is put there.
The Swatches panel in this case is empty (as well as Brushes, Symbols, Graphics Styles).
While it makes sense (image have no presets stored within), for some users it’s extremely irritating — they treat this workflow as a way to quickly create a new document based on an image, with the fitting document profile used (even though if they have no idea about document profiles — thanks to the modern…
6 votes -
Effect dialogs need sliders
Illustrator's stylized filters need a more practical and dynamic UI.
Currently, stylized effects such as Drop Shadow, Feather, Inner and Outer Glow have an outdated UI and are not dynamic.
I remember that Gaussian Blur was not in the past either, but Gaussian Blur was updated years ago and these stylized filters were not.
I believe that these stylized filters deserve a more practical, faster and dynamic way of being adjusted, and I took the liberty of creating a UI suggestion inspired by the current Gaussian Blur UI.
What do you think, would it be possible?
18 votes
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