Illustrator (Desktop) Feature Requests
When entering a new feature request, please provide:
- Description
- Why is this valuable to you?
180 results found
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MAKE. THE. HANDLER. BIGGER
make that tiny little ANCHOR and HANDLER bigger. I'm tired of failing to click that tiny rectangle every single second. PLEASE. I BEG YOU
1 voteThe size of handles can be changed in Preferences > Selection & Anchor Display, using the Size slider.
As for the selection tolerance for these — the problem with it is known and reported in a separate bug report: https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447-illustrator-desktop-bugs/suggestions/20358952-selection-tolerance-for-selecting-handles
Please vote if you want to get it fixed.
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Measurements are not working correctly
If you want to make a new path with 100mm x 100 mm in dimensions and and do that via the transform palette then the path shows an incorrect size (100,013 mm x 100,009 mm) but only if the path has an outline. If there is just a colour filling then the measurement is correct.
That should be corrected quickly.OS X 10.15.6, Illustrator 24.2.3
1 voteThere's an option 'Used Preview Bounds' for that in Preferences, which toggles the behavior. When it’s on, Illustrator includes stroke weight into dimensions, and does not when it’s off.
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Crop command embedding linked images
I would be thankful if linked images remain linked (instead of being embedded after using the crop command). I would like to believe that this can be made possible. This is the normal behaviour in other graphic design software.
1 voteIf you want to keep a cropped image as a live linked image, you should Clip it instead. Press the Mask button (in Control or Properties panel) and Ai will create and select a rectangular path with the same dimensions. Transform this path with any tool you like or with the bounding box, and the image inside will remain unembedded.
Crop command, on the other hand, is intended specifically for 'physical' cropping, and since Ai won’t edit the original placed image, it gets embedded and then cropped.
Just use the method you need.
Please comment back if it works for you.
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Sticky swatches, patterns, gradients, brushes and symbols.
I get so very tired of having to re-create what I've made or added earlier, or find the original file that contains things I've created earlier. It's starting from zero every time I open a new file.
It would be so nice to have things I added to panels be there for the next file.
1 voteThere are several options to make resources sticky.
1. Save your swatches/brushes/etc. library as user defined one on a disk, using the dedicated panel’s menu. Open each then from same menu in User Defined sub-folder. When the separate palette appears, mark is as Persistent in this panel’s menu, This will make these palettes stick after Illustrator relaunches.
2. You can locate document profiles (Print.ai, Web.ai, etc.) on your machine (in New Document Profiles folder), edit their predefined presets, and resave them. This will make every new document based on these profile to have your resources.
3. Save a current document with the resources as a template, and later call them File > New from template. This will fixate the artboards settings though, unlike method 2.
But be careful with methods, because Ai can reset document profiles when updates.
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correct measurements
In the attached screen shot you can see that the height of each of these objects, when looking at the blue illustrator guidelines, is measured the same but in reality, as is clearly obvious from the stroke attached to one of them, they are not the same size. One of them is clearly bigger in size due to the stroke. This discrepancy is very and constantly confusing when trying to work in precision measurements. Please could you fix so the stoked object calculates the stroke outer edge as additional width, as that is what it is. Thanks James
3 votesThere's an option 'Used Preview Bounds' for that in Preferences, which toggles the behavior. When it’s on, Illustrator includes stroke weight into dimensions, and does not when it’s off.
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Where has Export > DXF Gone?
Export as DXF has been removed since the latest update.
This option is essential at our workplace.Is there a reason why it was removed?
3 votesBoth DXF and DWG export options are there now in the 'Save as type' dropdown list in the Export As dialog, in recent versions of Illustrator.
Please comment if these are missing for you.
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Open New File with Limited Color Palette
Include an option in the New File dialogue box to open a file with only black and white color swatches. Currently, new files open with a large palette of useless color swatches, and it's a time waster to have to delete all those colors each time to have a clean and functional palette.
0 votesYou can set your own document profiles that have only what you need.
Trash all swatches, styles, brushes and resave this new document as a default profile (in a separate folder first), add your own, and then copy the file over existing one (or add a new). Access the folder by clicking Browse option in Profile dropdown in the extended New Document dialog window.
Just remember to backup these files, because Ai overwrites defaults each update! -
Button to reveal a Layer on "Layer window"
Is there a possibility to create a right-clic option to "reveal on Layer window" from any object? Sometimes when I receive some .ai files, everything is un-organized and must travel over layers and layers... This option is in After Effects and is very helpful.
Thanks for reading!2 votesYou can do this now with the Locate Object button in the bottom of the Layers panel.
However, this is not an automatic thing. If you wish to have an option for it to be automatic, vote here: https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657-illustrator-feature-requests/suggestions/39104935-automatic-locate-object
If you want to be able to assign a hotkey to it without wrapping it into an action, vote here: https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657-illustrator-feature-requests/suggestions/34798945-add-keyboard-shortcut-for-locate-object-button-in
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Object position should be able to be locked.
When aligning multiple objects to each other, all of them translates. There's no option to make one fixed (position locked) and then align all the other object to that fixed one. E.g. a content to a box object.
1 voteThanks for the response Endre.
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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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Transform options with clickable arrows all the time
Is there a way to always have the transform options like this (see "Transform with arrows.png" attachment) with clickable up and down arrows? The feature disappears unless you are grouping one or more objects (see "Transform no arrows.png" attachment).
1 voteIt’s not about arrows. It’s because for some object Distribute commands are displayed and they takes the space Transform controls would take instead. What you can do is to press Control panel menu (rightmost button with three stripes) and untick Align and/or Distribute controls to make sure that Transform will always visible. Also, for now this is the only way, Illustrator doesn’t allow to change the order of controls for Control panel :(
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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's Polygon tool that would be awesome.
1 voteWhile the Knife tools definitely lacks precision (and there is a request about it), but 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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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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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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1 vote
Yo can change global units in Preferences > Units with no document open.
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Ignore Groups and Clipping Masks
I lost about a Year of My Life double-clicking on objects within a group, inside of clipping masks. A less repetitive and MUCH faster way would be an option to "Ignore Groups and Clipping Masks" (i.e holding some key while clicking).
The option would temporarily (select-wise) treat grouped and clipped objects as normal objects, allowing direct click on an object through a clipping mask and ignoring groups. An "If you can see it, you can click on it!" approach for instant color and other adjustments.
This alone would speed up the workflow and, combined with wireframe view, it would be…
3 votes -
Search items on canvas within Layer panel
Hi, it's hard to find a certain path/vector art assets from the layers menu if the list is super long. My suggestion for the search function is when you click the asset on the art board, you can simply hover your mouse over the layer's list and click e.g. ',' (comma) and it shows you the right art asset from the layers' dropdown list.
Thank you
1 voteIllustrator offers a way to locate a selected object on canvas in Layers — with the Locate button at the bottom of the panel (the magnifying glass icon). If you have several objects selected, the topmost one would be scrolled to.
There is a separate request to make this function work automatically.
Another request asks for a hotkey for the button.
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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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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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