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Illustrator (Desktop) Feature Requests

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4619 results found

  1. Always call guides as 'guides'

    Open Layers and Control panels.

    Enable rulers and drag a guide from one.
    Take a look at how the selected guide is called:
    — <Guide> in Layers
    — Path in Control

    Now create a rectangle and a line, and also draw a path with the Pencil.
    Convert all three to guides with View > Guides > Make Guides (Cmd/Ctrl + 5).
    Compare the names:
    — <Rectangle> and <Line> but <Guide> in Layers
    — Rectangle and Line but Path in Control

    Sure, these first two are technically live shapes (and have dedicated controls in Control)... but also are guides. Why Ai…

    4 votes
    0 comments  ·  Other...  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

  2. 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.

    17 votes
    5 comments  ·  User Interface  ·  Admin →
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  3. Add Fresco Vector Brush technology into Illustrator

    Not sure why this still hasn't happened yet, but the vector brush in Fresco is superior to any of the vector brushes Illustrator currently provides for traditional style drawing/inking. Be great to have it for desktop vector drawing. Especially if there aren't' any intentions of bringing Fresco into OSX...

    https://helpx.adobe.com/fresco/using/vector-brushes.html

    5 votes
    0 comments  ·  Brushes  ·  Admin →
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  4. Be able to rotate a segment that is part of an object, rotating only the segment and not the entire object

    1 vote
    3 comments  ·  Tools  ·  Admin →
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  5. Can Dimension tool measure angles for open intersecting paths?

    I'm finding it frustrating that it appears that the Dimension tool will not give me angles from open shapes, i.e. 2 intersecting lines.
    Am I doing something wrong for is this something anyone else is experiencing?

    2 votes
    1 comment  ·  Tools  ·  Admin →
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  6. Add a slider to the History panel to quickly review the states of the document

    If we want to go back to a certain history state of the current document , we can scroll the History panel and click each step item, guessing the time, judging by the names of these, the scrollbar position (limited by the capped amount of steps)...
    It’s a guesswork in most cases, since some steps still have generic names (like always 'Move' and not 'Move Point', 'Move Handle', 'Move Segment', 'Move Path', 'Move Group'...)

    Can I just grab a slider and scrub with it, seeing all the previous states rendered on canvas — and fast? Today Ai sometimes takes too…

    7 votes
    0 comments  ·  User Interface  ·  Admin →
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  7. Learn to link / place .ai files saved without PDF compatibility (PGF only)

    I know, why would you. A PDF-layer is basically a composite flattened layer Ai writes into an .ai document, and just reads it when the file is placed: in Photoshop, in InDesign. Handy, yeah?

    Not really. Saving a document without the compatibility is so much faster. The non-compatible files are so much lighter (especially with heavy raster links used within). OK, Ps and InD can’t read PGF (Progressive Graphics Format, the one that’s native for Ai)... but Ai can.

    Why not reading linked .ai docs as they are and THEN keep it’s PDF representation within the destination file, if it…

    7 votes
    2 comments  ·  Images, Links  ·  Admin →
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  8. Eyedropper tool to be added to Contextual Task Bar for any object

    Eyedropper tool to be added to each object’s bottom tool bar. Why? So that you can sample a color from a picture or other object quickly.

    1 vote
    3 comments  ·  User Interface  ·  Admin →
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  9. Make Document Info Panel show Objects by default

    It was suggested that I post this here:

    Is it possible to have the 'Document Info' panel show Objects by default? It's literally the only thing I need from that panel and I want it open all the time, every time. Thanks!

    https://community.adobe.com/t5/illustrator-discussions/make-document-info-panel-show-objects-by-default/m-p/15023119#M429252

    4 votes
    0 comments  ·  User Interface  ·  Admin →
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  10. Support wildcard characters in Find & Replace

    My only wish for the text Find & Replace would be able to use wildcard characters. That was such a great option in the TexEdit (not TextEdit) word processor and I have yet to find something similar for the Mac.

    5 votes
    1 comment  ·  Type, Fonts, Text  ·  Admin →
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  11. Effect > Distort & transform > Stacking order

    Sometimes you have a group of objects that are not in the correct stacking order, and you have to expand the effects that generate these objects to fix it.

    I propose a new effect that offers a few options to change this:

    • reverse stacking order
    • stack left-to-right, right-to-left, up-to-down, down-to-up, or maybe just an angle dial for stacking order? that'd be super useful for "I drew three balls and blended them to make a necklace and I don't want to have to split it into two blends to make the right ball be the nearest one".
    • smallest-to-largest, largest-to-smallest
    3 votes
    4 comments  ·  Effects, Appearance, Graphic Styles  ·  Admin →
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  12. A way to make a pattern's location match where it was originally created instead of aligning with the ruler origin

    I like to use large patterns to create effects like "rays centered on a focal point of the image" in my artwork. Or to work around the fact that clipping masks can't have complex appearance stacks. These sort of patterns work best when they are precisely aligned to the artwork.

    Currently the workflow to do this is as follows:

    1. Create some art to be a pattern that aligns with some important part of my drawing. Select it and do Object > Pattern > Create.
    2. Give it a name and close the pattern creation window.
    3. Make a large rectangle with this…
    2 votes
    0 comments  ·  Colors, Swatches, Patterns  ·  Admin →
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  13. Find and Replace should immediately count occurrences of the Find field contents in a document, before hitting Find

    Why not showing us how many occurrences of a searched text the document has as we type the text? Why every browser can do this, but a professional tool will smack you with the loud alert only after you hit Replace All? How can I count matches without replacing?!

    4 votes
    0 comments  ·  Type, Fonts, Text  ·  Admin →
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  14. Don’t require hitting Find before Replace All becomes active in Find and Replace dialog

    Illustrator’s Find and Replace dialog is bad.
    One of the issues is that we can’t immediately Replace All after we enter text. We have to press Find first.

    Why? If it’s nothing to replace — replace nothing (and perhaps show a message, preferably a shy one, not a clunky modal dialog).

    5 votes
    0 comments  ·  Type, Fonts, Text  ·  Admin →
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  15. Add a Recent section in the Find/Replace Font dialog

    Sometimes we have to use the same font as a replacement font.
    Find/Replace Font dialog remembers none of our previous replacement searches. And since Search / Filter is missing too (here is the request: http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/45057382), we are doomed to scroll the list every time.
    Just remember the choices at least!

    4 votes
    0 comments  ·  Type, Fonts, Text  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

  16. 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
    0 comments  ·  Selection  ·  Admin →
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  17. Display names for character alternates

    When a singular character is selected, Illustrator shows Character Alternates menu (if one has the option enabled in Preferences > Type).

    But while some glyphs look distinct enough, some are obscure.

    These have names, Unicode codes (these are displayed in Glyphs)...
    What’s good seeing three similar spaces? How can I choose properly from two similar looking small 'a'-s, as shown in the screenshot attached?
    Why can’t I see what these character alternates are when I hover over them?

    3 votes
    0 comments  ·  Type, Fonts, Text  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

  18. A way to access Window > Toolbars menu from any toolbar

    I want to be able to swap toolbars directly from the Edit Toolbar drawer hidden under ellipsis button in each toolbar. Currently I’d have to close one I don’t need, then go to the menu and search it there.
    At least they remember their positions...
    I can’t use workspaces to swap tool panels, because reloading workspaces takes forever in Ai.

    3 votes
    1 comment  ·  User Interface  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

  19. Allow to have zero extension value for the Extension Lines for Dimensions

    For some reason there is a minimal value we can set for extensions above the dimension line — 0,01 pt.
    I want it to be zero.

    2 votes
    0 comments  ·  Tools  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

  20. Escape should cancel an execution of a script / plugin

    If we run a script or a plugin operation and the execution of it takes a long time, there is no real way to abort it other than killing the whole Ai process completely (since there is no dedicated one). This can loose us data, and saving each time before running a script or a plugin is paranoid and is hardly a solution.

    We need to be able to hit Escape when a script or a plugin makes Ai freeze and expect for it to be stopped, perhaps with a confirmation.

    6 votes
    0 comments  ·  User Interface  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?
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