Illustrator (Desktop) Feature Requests
When entering a new feature request, please provide:
- Description
- Why is this valuable to you?
157 results found
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Rounded corners on crop tool
When crop tool is selected, add the live corners option to crop rounded corners or circles. Please and thank you.
1 voteThere is an intended way to do it.
Once your image is cropped, you can do Object > Clipping Mask > Make and Ai will create and select a rectangular clipping mask for your image.
Then you have to convert it to a live shape, with Object > Shape > Convert to Shape.
Then you can round its corners in Transform panel, typing in a value in one of the Corner Radius fields (if they are linked) in the Rectangle Properties section.
All of these can be recorded as an action and applied later with a click in Actions panel or a hotkey.
Please test how it works for you and comment back.
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We need, again, Custom Bevels in 3D-Extrude & Bevel, please!
Illustrator used to have the ability to create customer Bevel profiles ( in the Bevels.ai file in /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Adobe Illustrator 23/en_US/Symbols ). HOWEVER, the feature is now gone! Please give us the option to create custom Bevels, again! Thank you.
Last year, 2018, I created a object and gave it a 3D custom bevel, and now I can do nothing with that object. Whenever I try to do something with it Illustrator crashes. I couldn't figure out what was going on until I tried creating a custom Bevel again. There is no way to create a custom Bevel! When I…
8 votes -
Overprint simulation on image file exports (JPEG for example)
I think that it would add great value when Illustrator exports to image file the option to add overprint simulation, in the same way as InDesign easily does.
I would add great benefit to our jobs and would simplify some steps (not going to InDesign just to do that).9 votesIllustrator respects the overprint when exporting raster files. Please follow the instructions in comments and reply back if it does not work for you.
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1 vote
Yo can change global units in Preferences > Units with no document open.
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knife tool with bezier curves like pen tool
I like the idea of the knife tool and I try to use it. It is worthless because it has no control.. If it used bezier curves or like the Photoshop polygon tool that would be awesome.
1 voteWhile the Knife tools definitely lacks precision, there is a way you can use any path as a cutting path, the same way the Knife does.
Draw a path over the objects you want to cut, select it and use Object > Path > Divide Objects Below.
Please comments back if it works or doesn’t work for you.
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Find approximate/closest Pantone from a process color
If you choose a color from the color picker in Photoshop, it will show you the nearest equivalent in the Pantone library.
3 votesYou can do it for a single color. Open the Recolor Artwork dialog (full one), then limit the color to a desired Pantone palette, by pressing the button at the bottom that says ‘None’ and choosing the book you need.
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Option for object size to take priority over corner radius
When resizing an object, corner radius should be automatically reduced to accommodate the new size rather than blocking the change until you manually reduce the corner radius
(toggle in the options?)1 voteThere is an option to toggle this behavior, in Preferences > General > Scale Corners. You can also tick it in the Transform panel.
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Keyboard Shortcuts for Select > Same > Fill; Select > Same> Stroke; Select > Same> Appearance
Requesting Keyboard Shortcuts for Select > Same > Fill; Select > Same> Stroke; Select > Same> Appearance; Select > Same> Stroke Weight.
Graphic designers and pre-press use these all the time and I am surprised there are keyboard shortcuts for these very vital features.
From a fellow pre-press production specialist.... this small little tweak would skyrocket workflow efficiency! Would love this!
Also, Adobe rocks!
8 votes -
Search filed is focused by itself
Every time I go back into Illustrator, the current version, my cursor automatically appears in the search area in the upper right hand corner. This was never the case in the past. This is problematic because, when I go back into Illustrator, I may want to select a tool or paste an object and unless I click on the artboard first, it pastes into the search window. Just one more simple glitchy thing that SLOWS DOWN WORKFLOW!
1 voteIn the latest release this search filed is gone, and it now has a button instead. Most probably it does solve the problem. Please comment back if it does not.
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Quick Command for Trim View
Quick Command for Trim View. I alternate a lot between normal view and trim view but have to stop to select trim view every time.
19 votesYou can assign your own custom shortcut to this command via Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts. Toggle 'Tools' to 'Menu commands' from the dropdown and search for 'Trim View'.
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Allow Eyedropper tool to copy/apply different things
Guys, the Eyedropper is an incredibly important tool, whether or not it's "****" by virtue of its age. You haven't updated it in, what, decades? Among the things that it is incapable of copying are:
- multiple strokes
- stroke profiles
- transparency
- blend modes
- graphic styles
Those are extremely common usages/needs. And that's off the top of my head, I'm sure there are many more. Obviously there's no reason this tool shouldn't be able to copy these things! Almost every aesthetic effect that gets added to AI should be reflected in that tool's pickup abilities. Please make this happen already.
1 voteThe Eyedropper tool can work in two modes: basic and extended: basic picks/applies only colors and text. extended allows you operate chosen appearance attributes.
If you open the tool’s options (by doube-clicking the tool button or hitting Enter while it’s picked), you’ll see that you can check/uncheck two top ‘Appearance’ options and customize attributes to be processed.
This is not intuitive, but very powerful once you get the concept.
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Install brushes to Illustrator
Install custom brushes to Illustrator
With photoshop, you can install custom brushes. With Illustrator, you have to make any custom brush yourself which can be tedious and very difficult.4 votesIllustrator for desktop allows to save and import brushes with an ease.
To save brushes, just save a document with your brushes as an .ai file. You don’t have to have them on canvas for this, just in Brushes panel.
To load brushes, click the Brush Libraries Menu button in the bottom left corner of the Brushes panel (looks like a bookshelf). Choose Other Library, locate the brush library .ai file.
If you want to create, save and import brushes in Illustrator for iPad — you have to vote for this feature here: https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/931888-illustrator-ipad-feature-requests/suggestions/41682511-import-or-create-brushes
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Make Document Color Mode menu available to set up as an action
Make Document Color Mode a recordable action. I have to edit lots of files and they all have to be CMYK. If I forget one, it will look horrible on our website and we might never notice it. It would help a lot if color mode could be set up as an action.
3 votesYou can insert the 'Document Color Mode: CMYK' command into an action using the 'Insert Menu Item' from the Actions panel’s flyout menu
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Contextual Eyedropper Tool
Currently, the Eyedropper Tool is an underutilized and often counter-intuitive tool that needlessly increases the complexity of a workflow because of its limitations. This- combined with Illustrator's poor color tools- often adds unnecessary time and effort to what should and could be more simplified tasks.
For example, a common situation is that I have a shape with a fill color that I like, and I want another shape that has a stroke to also use that color, except only for the stroke. Currently, if I use the eyedropper tool on the filled shape, it will completely remove the stroke and…
4 votesThe solution to that would be to activate a stroke if you want to apply a color to it, then to hold Shift when clicking a color — does not matter where this color is on a stroke or a fill. Illustrator then applies the picked color to the active fill/stroke, ignoring the source nature. There are two things to know — the cursor does not inform you about this mode (unlike the Alt-mode, should be addressed), and if you pick a color from a swatch — you’d get a screen representation of the color... harmless for RGB documents (if your color settings are in order), but crucial for CMYK documents (should be addressed too). Pleas comment back. -
Ability to set line width based on the angle of the line
I'd like to be able to set the line width based on the angle of the line, so if the line width is 10 pt on horizontal lines, and you set it so it's 90% of that on vertical lines, it automatically sets it to 95% on 45 degree lines etc.
In the example image you'd just have to draw a circle, set it to a 10 pt line and then set the thickest point (vertical) to 400% of the thinnest part (the horizontal).
The controls for this would be simple, all you need to be able to do is…
1 voteThis effect can be achieved with Calligraphy brushes. Set one up in Brushes panel, use angle 0, change the size to be the thickest weight you want, and use the roundness value to change it at thinner horizontal parts. If you want 4x difference, set it to 25% of the set size. Done — apply it to any path you want.
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Shortcut for the SMOOTH tool please.
N brings the pencil... I need something for the SMOOTH tool.
4 votesYou can assign your own hotkeys to different tools with Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts dialog.
Also, you can pick Pencil, hit Enter )or double-click the tool’s button) to open the Pencil Tool Options dialog and check 'Alt key toggles to Smooth Tool' — this will allow to quickly temporarily access Smooth on the go while you are working with Pencil.
Same applies to the Brush and Blob Brush stools by default.
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make one layer from more layers like in photoshop
Hello, I would really like it if different layers could be used to create one layer, just like in photoshop.
(so if you work with a lot of layers, and you repeat the design on the same page, or want to create a pattern, this doesn't work)
I very much hope that this will be possible in the future1 voteYou can do that using Layers panel’s menu (a hamburger icon in top right corner). Select layers you need and choose one of three available commands: Merge Selected, Flatten Artwork, Collect in New Layer.
Also, you can operate with a selection of object on canvas. Select object you need there, focus a layer you want you objects to be in and apply Object > Arrange > Send to Current Layer.
Finally you can drag a square marker of a selected objects in Layers to another layer to move them.
Please comment on how it works for you.
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Crop Image tool
With the Crop image tool, it would be nice if the initial crop bounds were to the exact size of the selected image. Right now when you select an image to crop, it creates a random selection, that requires more work than if the crop selected the outer bounds of the image instead of a small selection.
1 voteEric, this behaviour is regulated in Preferences > General > Enable Content Aware Defaults.
Notice that checking this off will also disable auto-placing of color stops in Freeform Gradients and of, pins in Puppet Warp.
If you want to be able to regulate these separately, perhaps you might want to vote for this request:
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move anchor points in opposite direction relative to the object’s center point
For years I have been hankering for a way to work with anchor points the same way as the width tool works or the option/alt modifier key works when resizing a shape with the selection tool.
When two anchor points are selected I want to be able to move those points in opposite directions. Either attract or repel.Imagine there is a straight line between the two selected anchor points, when one of the points is moved away from the other point (pressing the modifier key) the point that is selected but not dragged should move in the opposite direction.
5 votesThis is possible with Smart Guides and Scale tool, like it’s described in the comments.
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Bring back the previous Illustrator CC toolbar
Bring back the previous Illustrator CC toolbar. After years of having the AI tools in a particular spots, now they're all over the place and hard to find and the Edit Toolbar is a cluster#$%& of madness. Bring it back!
10 votesWe have not removed the previous toolbar, it is just that it is not the default. Please use the Window menu > toolbar to get back to the advanced toolbar
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