Illustrator (Desktop) Feature Requests
When entering a new feature request, please provide:
- Description
- Why is this valuable to you?
165 results found
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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 -
Bounding Box Preview Bounds
CC 23.01 Mac High Sierra
When a single object is selected, Preview Bounds is on, the Bounding Box does not reflect the Preview Bounds - it is the same as if Preview Bounds is off.
When selecting multiple objects it works as it should
8 votesThis issue is fixed in latest version of Illustrator. Live shapes (and art in general) no longer have geometric bounds’ sized bounding box with the Preview Bounds option on.
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Recolor multiple layers panel layers at the same time
In Photoshop, you can select multiple layers, and add a color marker at the same time to all of them. I often use the colors of layers in Illustrator for UI and packaging design to separate visually which layers are finished (green), and which ones I still need to work on (red). But I have to double click each layer one by one in order to change the color.
8 votesYep, there is a way to change the color of edges for a selection of layers — 'Options for Selection' command in the Layers panel’s flyout menu.
But perhaps the original poster meant colored backgrounds to mark layers? Like Photoshop allows to and like we can do with actions in button mode?
If yes — please make a separate request about this.
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Dimension Tool Ungroup to edit
To be able to ungroup the dimension, created with the dimension tool so it can be edited. The only way I have found how to edit it is expand appearance. And that duplicates it a number of times so you need to delete the duplicates first.
7 votesRecent builds offer a native way to hide units in live dimensions, so there is no need to expand these to hide them manually or use the Find and Replace hack anymore
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Toolbox zoom and hand tool on same tab instead of separate tabs making it slower to select since having to flip back and forth all the time
Previous versions CS6 etc had the toolbox panel better laid out: Hand tool and zoom tools were on a separate tab now CC doesn't give the choice but having them both on a same tab so having to hover, drag etc every time I want to select my favourite tools is really tedious whilst there are many useless tools on the toolbox displayed why changing a feature that worked perfectly in previous versions?
7 votesThe original toolbar with all the tools in classic arrangement is still available as 'Advanced' and can be enabled from Window > Toolbar menu. The currently offered toolbar is called 'Basic' and serves the purpose of making new users fell less overwhelmed with the amount of tools Ai has and display the most popular only.
A questionable decision, but it came with the possibility to make our own customized vertical tool panels. Read more about this here: https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/tools.html
If you want to have horizontal toolbars (as a separate option, along with 'torn-out' groups), vote here: https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657-illustrator-desktop-feature-requests/suggestions/38230498-the-illustrator-toolbox-should-be-able-to-display
If you want to be able to add dividers in toolbars (we lost them when customization had been added), vote here: https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657-illustrator-desktop-feature-requests/suggestions/38097085-add-dividers-to-custom-tools-panel-or-enable-stac#comments
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3D Mouse Support
Originally posted in the forums:
I am aware that this has been asked before, but I have not found an adequate answer.
I have always disliked the methods used by Illustrator for pan and zoom functions.
I have been using a program called X-Mouse Button Control to remap the functions of the mouse wheel and middle click to pan and zoom operations. For panning, this works well: Middle click to pan. In X-Mouse, the middle click is replaced with a macro that will hold the space key, and simulate a click/hold of the left mouse button. This allows panning in…
7 votesIllustrator now supports panning with the middle-click held. Also you can toggle Zoom with Mouse Wheel option in Preferences > General. No need to remap anything for having these now.
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Bring back the rounded corners in the rectangle dialog
Please place the rounded corners back into the rectangle dialog window. The new experience for this feature is undiscoverable and not intuitive at all. The usage pattern is inconsistent with the rest of the drawing tools e.g. polygon, stars... Have you consider testing it on users before launching the new 2019 version? Please do not redesign for the sake of redesign. Your users are not being efficient in their workflows because they have to spend time to figure it out where those features have gone. I am very sorry but this is a frustrating experience.
6 votesAs per the comment.
The rounded corner box is still there in new versions, but hidden, as a 'not-frequently-used' — well, statistics-wise. Click on the three dots at the bottom of your toolbar and pick Rounded Rectangle tool directly, or drop it into your toolbar.
Please free to add comments, if you think that this tool should be included to the Essentials toolbox anyway, and why you think this is important.
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Key command for scrolling thru blend modes
You know how Photoshop has a quick key command for scrolling thru blend modes? Why not one for Illustrator?
6 votesYou can assign your own custom hotkeys for these commands, using Keyboard Shortcuts dialog: select Tools from the drop-down menu (yes, that’s an unexpected place), and search for ‘blend’ — last two found commands are ‘Blend Mode – Next Mode’ and ‘’Blend Mode – Previous Mode’ — assign any keys you want or use Photoshop-like keys, Shift+Plus and Shift+Minus.
The only difference between Ai and Ps is that Illustrator does not loop the list like Photoshop does… There is another request for this: https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/44406693 — please vote there if you believe this should be addressed. -
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…
5 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. -
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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Make it possible to select locked objects?
I wish it was possible to prevent an object from moving, but still have the ability to select it. A preference setting to "allow selection of locked objects" or "lock position only" or something?
5 votesThere is a way to select locked objects in recent Illustrator versions.
In Preferences > Selection & Anchor Display section toggle ‘Select and Unlock objects on canvas’ option to see small lock icons you can click when locked objects get into a selection marquee. -
Default input in Color Picker
Older versions of Illustrator used to default in "Hex" field of the Color Picker, but now the default is in "H" of HSB. This breaks up the workflow when copying a low of colors.
5 votes -
Position elements relative to artboards.
Since several improvements to artboards are in the pipeline, I think It would be worth considering positioning elements relative to the top left corner of the artboard. I haven't found a good use for keyboard entry of x and y positions. Positioning elements relatively would make it relatively easy to maintain padding / grids across multiple artboards by entering an exact value.
5 votesTo allow the artboard-relative positioning, you should switch rulers from global with View > Rulers > Change to Artboard Rulers command (or from the context menu for the zero point of the rulers on canvas).
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Delete hidden layers
Would it be great if add the option of deleting all hidden layers as in photoshop..
5 votesThere is a command in the Layers panel’s menu, called Delete Hidden Layers... Unfortunately, it deletes not only hidden layers, but also all hidden content. There is a separate request to rename the comment or add another, to distinct two operations: https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657-illustrator-desktop-feature-requests/suggestions/43634643-delete-hidden-layers-command-innapropriately-nam Please vote. Also, there is another request to delete unused/empty layers: https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657-illustrator-desktop-feature-requests/suggestions/40696027-delete-unused-layers -
The ability to save an appearance of a selected object.
The ability to save an appearance of a selected object to apply to other objects. Much like the copy and paste layer style in Photoshop.
5 votesYou can do that by using Graphic Styles panel: https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/graphic-styles.html
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Copy parts from multiple layers into multiple layers
I work with a lot of parts that I need to keep separated for output. A simple example is a complex, compound shape with 20 elements. I have 10 on a "cut" layer and 10 on a "print" layer. If I copy and paste them, I can only paste them into one layer. I might want them to go back into the same layers or into 2 new layers. I never want them in the same layer. I now have to go in and separate them all into the proper layers.
This is important because the layers tell our output…
5 votesYou can enable Paste Remembers Layers in the panel’s menu to make Illustrator remember layers your objects were copied from and insert them on layers with same name when pasted. If these layers don’t exist, Illustrator will create them. Be careful and disable it when not needed, if might make a mess when not needed. Also note that with this option enable everything copied from an isolation mode creates a separate 'Isolation mode' layer, which is stupid — vote here if you think this should be addressed: https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447-illustrator-desktop-bugs/suggestions/37935496-paste-remembers-layers-bug-with-isolation-mode -
Auto live paint
I very often colour linework using live paint. This is a great tool but if I could automatically colour every shape it would save a lot of time. At the moment I have to manually click every area I want to fill. Could this be done with one click? Many thanks.
4 votesYes, there is a way to fill many areas at once.
A double-click on a fill (or a stroke) should apply the currently chosen color to all sections that has this color (unless these are not separated with strokes).
A triple-click will change the color of all sections of the same color, no matter if these are separated or not.
Same applies to Live Paint Selection Tool.
You can read more about these methods here
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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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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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4 votes
This option already exists in Illustrator, in Preferences > General, although the name of it is quite obscure — Show/Hide Rulers. Once it’s enabled, each new or opened document will have rulers enabled.
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