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Illustrator (Desktop) Feature Requests

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4339 results found

  1. Move Contextual Task Bar

    The initial placement of the Contextual Task Bar is the worst UI I've seen from Adobe in a decade or more. It. is. always. in. the. way.

    2 votes

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  2. Allow new Smooth command (not the tool) to be a live effect also

    New Smooth is quite handy to deal with rugged shapes. But it is also introduces the new 'dialog-less' approach, when we are basically given a dialog that auto-commits on dropping a selection. Once it is dropped, the change is applied. We will get accustomed to that.

    But imagine I smoothed something, then get distracted, and returned to the smoothed path a while after. To undo and reapply this I’d have to go back in History (at least we finally have it).

    What if we can apply this as an effect to an object, rather than a immediate filter? It means…

    8 votes

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  3. Drawing artboards in alphabetical order

    Add the possibility to reorder the artboards in alphabetical order.

    2 votes

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  4. Guided tracing brush (Snap to trace)

    The automatic full image tracing in illustrator often does not create useful results. The set of lines is too busy or doesn't line up with where a human would consider the edges to be.

    As an alternative, a brush tool tool that snaps the lines to the underlying image layers would be more helpful. Human input shows the general location of a line, and illustrator can then snap the line to the nearest set of pixels that appears to be an edge, helping make smooth an accurate traces without excess lines.

    While it would be a slower process, the creative…

    3 votes

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    1 comment  ·  Brushes  ·  Admin →
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  5. Multi page PDF import: needs to respect original document color space

    Hi,
    Now when selecting "All" for page range, Illustrator creates a document with default color space, e.g. now CMYK.
    It would be nice if PDF importer was a bit smarter and could check and respect original PDF's color space, and set up the document in Illustrator to match.

    E.g. when importing an RGB pdf, it would use RGB color space; and CMYK for CMYK.

    6 votes

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  6. Allow to zoom pattern swatches on right click hold, like we can do in Graphics Styles

    Patterns can we very detailed, and we can have some pattern variants that don’t differ much from each other. Even when we choose to have Large Thumbnail View in Swatches, it doesn’t really help much to distinguish these.

    It’d be useful if we could do the same thing as Graphic Styles panel does — to click and hold a right mouse button to view a giant thumbnail of the clicked pattern.

    The only difference would be that styles are displayed applied to the selected objects, while there is no such need for patterns — a simple square thumbnail will do.

    3 votes

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  7. We should be able to right-click on any command and Add a Hotkey to it

    Ai is stuck in 90-s with the UI’s paradigm.
    We need faster ways now.

    Why can’t we right-click any command in the top bar menu and choose 'Add a keyboard shortcut' command that will immediately open the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog with this clicked menu item already chosen?

    Why should be go to the dialog separately and search for the command once more?

    3 votes

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  8. Graphic Styles direct hotkeys

    Some of us use graphics styles A LOT. And a way to quickly apply them now requires aiming and clicking. In modern now, a precise targeted click is the most inconvenient, attention-expensive, and rather ineffective gesture.

    Pro users use hotkeys.
    Since InDesign’s Quick Apply is not a thing yet (that’s another story), we’d like to be able to assign direct hotkeys to chosen styles.

    There are several ways to approach this: by name, or by position in the list... but not as an action wrapper — we have so little of F-keys.

    3 votes

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  9. Allow third-party developers to add dividers and custom sorting into Effect menus

    Third-party developers can add custom items in menus.
    Some create their own sub-menus, some add them in-between native commands... there are several practices they use and when they all get used together it feels somewhat chaotic.

    But it feels like this is because plugin devs can’t fully control the commands in menus. It turns out, they can’t control the order and sorting, add dividers in Effects (but seemingly can in every other menu)...

    Effect menu is the most weird menu in Ai, it looks different from others. Maybe that’s why?

    There is an existing UV post about it:
    https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447-illustrator-desktop-bugs/suggestions/36951433-effects-menu-is-smaller-larger-than-other-menus-on

    3 votes

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  10. 1 vote

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    2 comments  ·  Symbols  ·  Admin →
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  11. Mark starting points and directions for paths

    We know nothing about where a closed path starts and which direction it has.
    We can cheat it and apply an arrowhead or a brush to see that, but perhaps you just should mark the first points of paths with something else than a square? Like a triangle?
    Come on, look at Corel Draw, look at Affinity Designer!

    15 votes

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  12. Option to save / export values in 64 bits

    I work in metric, and everything works perfectly until I have to export file to the CAD software which uses higher accuracy.

    If I have a line of 42 mm, actual dimension is 42.00007 (because the way illustrator stores values in points, and getting rounded in 32bit).
    Problem really shows up if I have to scale things 1000-10000 times

    Would be amazing if Illustrator had an option to save / export values in 64bits

    3 votes

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  13. Make gradient hard stops

    A gradient can be striped when you move 2 stops of the same color on top of each other. It would be easier if this were not needed as is the case in Cinema 4D. So Illustrator should have a setting that gradient stops break the gradient and make stripes.

    Posting this on request of a forum participant. Please see the post here: https://community.adobe.com/t5/illustrator-discussions/my-illustrator-wishlist/m-p/14408654#M396609

    2 votes

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    1 comment  ·  Gradients  ·  Admin →
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  14. Increase selection tolerance

    The selection tolerance maximum is 8px. My laptop has a 4k screen making 8px less than 1/64 of an inch. It's almost impossible for me to select lines in Illustrator with this small of a tolerance.

    2 votes

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    0 comments  ·  Selection  ·  Admin →
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  15. Calculate the bounds in Document Raster Effects Settings automatically

    As for today, if you apply a Gaussian Blur or a Drop Shadow effect to a shape — with a large enough value — it often gets cropped.

    A workaround exists — to go in Effect > Document Raster Effects Settings dialog and increase the 'Add' value, thus increasing the bounds of the image generated.

    ...but why is this still a problem that we, users, should take care of, really? Ai knows how large is the blur, it knows the resolution, yet it can’t calculate the tight bounds automatically. Like what, is there at least one user who’d like their…

    21 votes

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  16. Brush stroke stability

    I've been using Illustrator for a long time now and one of the things that have bugged me over the years is the fact that there's no brush stroke stabilization like the Pulled String Mode in Photopshop or the Rope Brush in Affinity Designer. Ai has evolved so much over the years and it's been used to create freehand vector art since day one, so I cannot understand why this function hasn't been developed yet as of 2024.

    Path Smooth or Fidelity are definitely two options to smooth out lines, but that's done once the path has been created. Stabilization,…

    2 votes

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    1 comment  ·  Brushes  ·  Admin →
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  17. Set Default Font and Font Size for all new documents

    Changing the default character style in Illustrator should be permanent when creating new documents. Font size 12 is rarely used for any project I've designed, and Myriad Pro is used even less so, from my experience. Having to change this every time is user friction that is unnecessary, when we could define our own font and font size that is more applicable to one's intended use of Illustrator. It's a minor inconvenience that adds up to an annoyance over time, and I hope that in the future we have the ability to skip this step.

    53 votes

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    The intended way of setting a default font is to edit document profiles. These files are located in folders like 'C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator 2023\Support Files\Required\New Document Profiles\[language]\' on Windows and 'Macintosh HD > Applications ▸ Adobe Illustrator 2020 > Support Files > New Document Profiles > [language]' on Macs.

    Make a copy of the one you want to use someplace else, open it in Illustrator, make your changes, replace the original and then use it when creating a new file.

    There are many tutorials on the web about managing these, like this one: https://productivista.com/new-document-profiles-saves-your-default-settings/

    However, this way indeed is not the most discoverable. Please continue to vote and leave comments if you want this to be improved.

  18. Tool tip switch in the program's top panel

    It would be great to have a tooltip switch in the program's top panel, as it is not possible to disable them from the first launch of Illustrator, and it's not very obvious in general. Therefore, I suggest adding a toggle switch for these tooltips. While they are indeed helpful, it's not always easy to remember what each tool is for. However, during active work, having the tooltips constantly displayed can be distracting, and to turn them off, one has to go into the settings and disable "Show tool tip." It would be nice if tooltips were also implemented for…

    2 votes

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  19. Break link to paragraph style

    Simple option to break a bit of text from paragraph style. Just like we can in InDesign.

    2 votes

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  20. Allow Shaper Tool to create stars

    Shaper Tool allows to create live rectangles, ellipses, polygons in a freehand manner: https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/building-new-shapes-using-shape.html

    Recently a new live shape got added into Illustrator — Star.
    But Shaper Tool won’t create one if you try to scribble it.
    Not sure how popular Shaper Tool is, but it should be able to do it anyway.

    Original idea by Monika Gause.

    2 votes

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    0 comments  ·  Tools  ·  Admin →
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