Illustrator (Desktop) Feature Requests
When entering a new feature request, please provide:
- Description
- Why is this valuable to you?
4517 results found
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Artboards should have a purpose
- What is the purpose of having an artboard if anything drawn beyond it shows up as part of your drawing? I exported an artwork as a png file and everything beyond the artboard showed up as part of the artwork. The workspace around the artboard should be able to be used for ideas that may be relevant to future versions of your art or to assist in creating your art.
- When I drew the attached image, I expected that anything beyond the artboard would not show as part of the artwork.
2 votesIllustrator can respect artboards when exporting a raster image, if Use Artboards option in the Export dialog gets checked. In this case everything beyond artboards’ boundaries will get trimmed.
Export for Screens method will respect either artboards or assets, depending on the user’s choice.
Also, there is a view to just hide these excess temporarily with View > Trim View command, but this won’t make changes when exporting.
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Export to resolutions below 72 PPI
Currently export to raster formats seem to have a 72 PPI minimum. For making thumbnail versions of art, it would be great to be able to export to lower resolutions. It is a drag to have to use Photoshop to do a job that it seems like Illustrator could easily do by itself.
4 votesIndeed, currently Illustrator allows to export only some formats with lower resolution (4 PPI minimum), using Export As dialog — PNGs, JPEGs, WebPs...
Meanwhile, TIFF, TGA, PSD is capped to 72. These are not available in Export Assets / for Screens dialog.
Save for Web (Legacy) does not have a way to assign a resolution at all (since the value has no meaning for screens, as is left blank — it gets treated as 72 PPI by most viewers).
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Voice activated commands
What if all your basic commands could be said aloud? For example:
"File, save, export, save for web, jpg, 72 dpi, save, save to X folder..." or "select same fill color and stroke color, change to PMS246, object ungroup, select tool, select Layer 1, add 2 point white outline"Why would this be cool?
I am the worst at remembering short keys or using short keys and I'm sure not the only one. When software gets updated, sometimes things get moved in menus and that can be frustrating. I can say the commands faster than I can point, click or…
7 votes -
Align panel: Objects touch edges
I draw as well as design web layouts in Ai, and I spend a lot of time sliding objects around on a pasteboard and using Smart Guides to snap them next to each other so they're touching. I'd like to add a set of features to the align panel that allow you to select two objets, define the target object with a second click, and then define which edge of the objects you want them to touch on: top, bottom, left, right.
15 votes -
Unless I'm missing something, please export graphics to the exact same dimensions they were designed to be. Do not add arbitary padding.
In all good conscience I feel like I absolutely have to be missing something here. But time and time again, upon exporting some UI graphics from AI, they turn out to be wider and taller than they were designed to be. Is this padding arbitrary? How was it even determined that these pixels would be added to the exported assets? Am I truly missing something?
I mocked something up in XD, but after creating a few UI elements it was apparent that XD is nowhere near up to the task for making full-fledged graphics. No biggie, I was a little…
2 votes -
Make Static Symbols the default, instead of Dynamic Symbols.
A new symbol is saved as "Dynamic" by default. Please make "Static" symbols the default. They are the "Standard" and should remain the default. It is the exception when I want a "dynamic" symbol.
55 votesThe choice of the type of a symbol is sticky in the latest version of Illustrator. If a user toggles it to Static, it remains Static when another symbol is created — and vice versa.
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Visible keyboard shortcuts for actions
In photoshop you can see the keyboard shortcuts for a created action right behind the action in the action-window. Why isn't this possible in illustrator?
50 votesWorks as requested starting from the version 27.3
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When exporting png files with 300 ppi, keep the actual size of the canvas
Hello, it would be great if you export a canvas of z. For example, 100x100px can set the ppi resolution to 300 while the exported png is still exactly 100x100px. for the creation of tile sets that would be very good and would save me many hours of work. In addition, the pngs would also have a color profile, which is unfortunately not the case at the moment. Thank you
2 votes -
Star and Spiral live shapes, with on-canvas controls, better tools
Better Star tool, with side widgets to change the number of points, the rays’ length, etc.
Possibility to re-edit anytime the number of points in a star.
Also, the possibility to adjust the thickness of the star "arms".
(like Freehand was doing long time ago...)19 votesStar is now a live shape and available in the all the public builds starting from V 28.3.0.
You can now customise your star in any way you like; may it be changing the no of sides, corner angles, or even the corner radius.
Please try it out and let us know what y'all think !
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Have stroke type selection like in InDesign
InDesign has a great feature in the Stroke Panel where you can select different types of strokes - like dashed, dotted, wavy, etc.
It would be great if Illustrator had the same feature.
5 votes -
Inline Graphics / Anchor Object to text ability (like InDesign)
Please allow in-line graphics in text paragraphs, so graphics will move along with the rest of the copy within text. I am working on a lot of signage/wayfinding and the rooms keep getting moved about. Arro symbols and toilet icons have to be positioned manually and it is VERY time consuming. I wish the original artwork had been created in InDesign! Thanks
57 votesPlease share some real cases for this feature you had in your practice, which could have benefit greatly from having inline graphics. It will help the team to plan it and make it more useful for Ai users, than analogues we have in InDesign and Figma.
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Properties panel lacks properties
CC 2018. Please include ALL properties for the selected object. Selecting a stroke should show ALL stroke properties (including cap, corner, dashed line etc).
And please don't put stuff behind the ellipsis icon (additional properties). Some of the additional properties menus duplicate the stuff in the panel itself, or don't even work.
If you want to make properties show by context, you need to make the dedicated panels obsolete!
13 votes -
Less controls for selections, which scale and round corners instead of select and drag
A new handle and selection system was introduced, which included rounded corners, scale, and rotation options. Some of this was a good feature, until it wasn't. I desire a preference for turning off most handle options because with them on, I'm unable to select-option drag copy, or move elements unless I zoom in 1000 percent. The rotate and modifier keeps getting in my way and it's driving me nuts. Selecting and moving objects shouldn't be this frustrating.
8 votes -
Have an 'Expand' button in the Image Trace panel
It's a pretty crazy change to remove it...
Why have it tucked away in the menus ?!8 votes -
Release to Layers should inherit custom names from original objects
When I Release to Layers, all of the objects within that layer are renamed to "Layer 1, Layer 2, Layer 3" etc. and I'd love to be able to have the new layers be named the same as when they were objects.
45 votes -
A 'Remove Duplicate/Wholly Obscured Objects' feature
A 'Remove Duplicate/Wholly Obscured Objects' feature
I can pay for a plugin that removes duplicate objects that are immediately above/below a copy. I need something more sophisticated; an option to clean up a drawing by removing all duplicate objects and all wholly obscured objects.
3 votes -
Use arrow keys to kern letterforms
I would like to use arrow keys to visually kern letterforms, instead of having to enter numerical values = what you can do now only if you outline type. Thanks, Barry
1 vote -
(Prepress Features 2) Channel mixer
I use a lot the Channel mixer option in photoshop, cause i need to convert CMYK photos into lets say CM plus 2 or 3 spot colors, then I need to do the same in illustrator for vector illustrations and I dont want to convert this vector into pixels, I wana keep it vector to mantain the quality.
I know I can import the file as a smart object into photoshop but better if I can do it directly in Illustrator.
5 votes -
Slug
As part of my daily workflow, all my art has to have a slug, when i put all the information about the file, date, time, user, CMYK and spot colors used, company logo, etc.
Editable and complete slug option will be appreciated, see attached an example of my manual slug, i use in conjunction with a plugin which puts date time, the user, etc automatically, but i don't like plugins, I want part of the Adobe illustrator Software.
See attached an example
13 votes -
(Prepress Features 1) Automatic Traping
I know illustrator has a trap option under the path finder window, but it is very basic and I am pretty sure that so many people even doesn’t know it exists.
For us that work in prepress industry a very good, complete and editable trapping options will be great and valuable, think on that, please.6 votes
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