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Illustrator (Desktop) Feature Requests

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4598 results found

  1. Add Focus Fill and Focus Stroke commands we can assign hotkeys to

    Illustrator focuses either a fill or a stroke to be set.
    We can control the focus with the hardcoded X key, that toggles fill and stroke, but it also requires to know which is active at the moment to know if we should press it.

    It’d be faster for professional user to actually force the stroke or the fill to be active, with dedicated absolute keys instead of relative ones.

    I’d use something Alt+X and Alt+Shift+X (these are free), or remapped them to something even more simpler.

    There is a related request:
    Absolute mode that always sets a fill a…

    8 votes
    0 comments  ·  User Interface  ·  Admin →
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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
    0 comments  ·  Effects, Appearance, Graphic Styles  ·  Admin →
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  3. Generate Proper Filenames and Layer Names Instead of Untitled-1 and Layer-1

    We need Generate Name button for saving a file depending on its content, format and target project folder. Also layers could be named properly.

    Also it seems obvious that, besides generating a new name, the system could also use information from the document's presets, such as the document type (e.g., web, phone, book, etc.), document size (e.g., A4, 291x210mm, 1920x1080px, etc.), and colour and bit depth (e.g., CMYK, RGB, LAB, 8-bit, 16-bit, etc.).

    8 votes
    1 comment  ·  Admin →
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  4. Don’t drop the current character selection in text when I switch between documents

    If you select a portion of a text in Illustrator and switch to a different app and back — the selection stays in place.
    But if I switch between Illustrator documents/tabs — the selection gets lost. This makes editing of two or more documents at the same time very inconvenient, effectively loosing my data about the selection made.

    8 votes
    0 comments  ·  Type, Fonts, Text  ·  Admin →
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  5. Option to allow to group a single group, making it nested

    Sometimes we need to group a group. For example, for complex appearances, to nest graphics styles.
    But Illustrator does not allow that — and in most cases it’s a proper cautious behavior. But perhaps it can be toggled somewhere?

    So far we have two workarounds for this.
    1. Create a dummy object, select both it and the group you want to 'wrap', group them together, delete the dummy object.
    2. Use a script 'Add Group Anyway': https://onthehead.com/ais/group003/ (it also can pull children form different groups into a new one — which is a thing we want too).

    8 votes
    0 comments  ·  Other...  ·  Admin →
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  6. Rotate with arrow keys. Hold R to turn nudge in to rotate.

    I love being able to nudge the selected object with the arrow keys, I want a modifyer key that allows rotation in the same way. example: R key + arrow key rotates. Left and right arrows might be one degree increments. Up/ down could be 15 degree - which quickly gets people to the super common angles 30, 45, 60

    8 votes
    0 comments  ·  Align, Distribute  ·  Admin →
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  7. Treat all objects as filled for selection tools (like in Corel Draw)

    Corel Draw has an option, 'Treat all objects as filled', which allows select objects with no fills with just a click inside. While it’s 'not the Ai way' — this can be useful in some cases.
    Just make sure it works properly in the Outline view( that is does not get applied at all).

    8 votes
    0 comments  ·  Selection  ·  Admin →
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  8. Make Layers show which operation a compound shape uses, like 'Compound Shape (Subtract)'

    Compound shapes have 4 different modes, and sometimes it’s important to be able to see which one is used when you work with the resulting shapes in Layers — especially if you nest shapes in several layers.. But at the moment Illustrator just display all of them as just 'Compound Shape'.

    Compare these two structures:

    Compound Shape
    ...> Compound Shape
    ......> Rectangle
    ......> Ellipse
    ...> Compound Shape
    ......> Rectangle
    ......> Ellipse

    Compound Shape (Unite)
    ...> Compound Shape (Subtract)
    ......> Rectangle
    ......> Ellipse
    ...> Compound Shape (Intersect)
    ......> Rectangle
    ......> Ellipse

    Don’t you agree the one at the bottom is easier…

    8 votes
    0 comments  ·  Pathfinder and Compounds  ·  Admin →
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  9. Move 'Show The Home Screen...' and 'Use Legacy File New...' options to Preferences > User Interface section

    These two options are not 'general', they relate to specific UI choices.

    8 votes
    0 comments  ·  User Interface  ·  Admin →
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  10. Select Same Fill Color & Stroke Color

    'Select Same Fill & Stroke' command from Select > Same menu also includes stroke weight. But sometimes we need to ignore it and search only by colors.

    So basically we have no 'Select Same Fill Color & Stroke Color' command...

    ....no wait. We do have this command!
    It is just well hidden.

    For some reason it is available only as an option in the dropdown menu for the Select Similar Objects button — but not in the menu. Please make these two sources match and combine both lists.

    8 votes
    0 comments  ·  Selection  ·  Admin →
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  11. LAB Decimal values

    Illustrator only supports integer values for LAB. It'd be amazing if there will be support for decimal values for LAB swatches.

    8 votes
    1 comment  ·  Colors, Swatches, Patterns  ·  Admin →
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  12. Make Increase / decrease font size hotkeys to respect chosen Font Height Options

    Font Height Options are amazing.
    It’s almost a perfect feature to my taste... but when I hit Font Size Step Up / Down or Point Size Up / Down (Shift + Ctrl/Cmd + ./, and Alt/Opt + Shift + Ctrl/Cmd + ./,) — Illustrator adds the chosen Size/Leading value (from Preferences > Type) to the Em Box size anyway, and not the x-height or the Cap height I chose to work with.

    So, say, with chosen step 0.5 mm and x-height 15 mm I get 15.267 mm instead of 15.5 mm as the next size up, or 16.335 mm instead…

    8 votes
    0 comments  ·  Type, Fonts, Text  ·  Admin →
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  13. Create new documents with a 'Plus' button or a double-click in the document tabs area

    Document Tabs is a well-known paradigm, thanks to browsers.
    Since many of us spend a lot of time with browsers, we expect the same functionality form tabs’ headers in Illustrator.

    One of them is a middle-click to close a tab (https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657-illustrator-desktop-feature-requests/suggestions/38150188-add-middle-click-to-close-document), another is remember opened tabs on relaunch (https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657-illustrator-desktop-feature-requests/suggestions/44819065-launch-illustrator-with-the-same-opened-documents).
    There are others.

    But the most prominent one is the Plus button to the right (in LTR world) of the last tab, which creates a new document.

    Sure, one can hit Cmd/Ctrl+Alt+N, or go File > New, but sometimes we are lazy, and the other hand is…

    8 votes
    0 comments  ·  User Interface  ·  Admin →
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  14. As introduced in Photoshop the Warp option for Cylinder should be in illustrator

    It will be much easier to use the warp on a cylinder in vector art, it was introduced in Photoshop. If I’m working on a design in Adobe illustrator and want to warp some text or a label on a bottle
    why not stay in vector art, instead of using photoshop?

    8 votes
    1 comment  ·  Other...  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?
    AdminEgor Chistyakov (Admin, Adobe Illustrator) responded

    There is a way to do the same exact distortion in Illustrator, using a free MeshTormentor plugin (please see the full instruction in the comments).

    However, an easier native way to do it is still welcome (as the general improvements over mesh distortion capabilities) — so please keep voting for this if you want it to happen.

  15. Hitting Alt+Down does not open dropdown lists

    I expect Alt+Down to drop down focused lists with options inside, like Font Family / Style, Stroke Weight, etc.

    Sure, I understand it might conflict with duplicating, but in fact no, since Ai does not duplicate when a field is focused anyway. At the same time, it’s a common and expected behaviour in other applications.

    8 votes
    0 comments  ·  User Interface  ·  Admin →
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  16. Mesh tool hold and drag

    When we click a shape with the Mesh tool, a node gets immediately applied to the shape/mesh, a new row and a column get instantly inserted. If I keep holding the mouse button / pen, it won’t help me anymore to position my node precisely. So the insertion should not happen immediately on a mouse click, but on a mouse release, drawing all the possible results while the button / pen is held down.

    8 votes
    0 comments  ·  Meshes, Distortion  ·  Admin →
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  17. Add a new API to delete the swatch

    There is a problem with global gradient swatches, described at https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/908050/suggestions/44461230

    Illustrator applies changes to all copies of a gradient in a document when this gradient is changed via a script. It makes sense from a practical point of view, but is devastating for scripts in general.

    We can’t duplicate gradients with a script properly, like we can do with any other swatch, because when it's done, the gradient swatch get forcibly added to Swatches and then corrupt the art which uses them when deleted... and it does not break this global link anyway.

    At the moment we copy a…

    8 votes
    0 comments  ·  SDK and Scripting  ·  Admin →
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  18. Embedding Linked Illustrator content should embed the native content instead of the PDF version.

    When you place a Linked Illustrator object (from a file or from a CC Library) and later decide to Embed it, you actually embed the PDF content of the linked file. This results in many groups, clipping masks, reduced editability (no Appearance effects, Symbols, Brushes) and loss of layers.
    The optimal editable way would be to embed the native objects instead of the PDF version, similar to Copy and Paste with the Paste Remembers Layers option turned on.

    8 votes
    2 comments  ·  Cloud, Libraries  ·  Admin →
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  19. Better grid settings

    Inkscape 1.1 has great grid management.
    It's embedded with the document: because grid needs vary a lot from a document from another
    It's accessible on the lateral panel, while on AI you need to enter the general settings; all while snapping is in the view menu (go figure...)
    There a two types of grid.
    You can set several grids.
    On this lateral panel, and for each grid, you can easily define there enable , visible and snapping status. (no menu spelunking)
    You can set the grid origin with coordinates or by alignment to the page (on AI if you modify…

    8 votes
    0 comments  ·  Documents and Artboards  ·  Admin →
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  20. Please re-add 3D mapping with Symbols to new 3D functionality

    Please re-add 3D mapping with Symbols to the new 3D functionality.

    I know it's included in the "3D (Classic)" Effects menu, but it needs to be added to the new 3D functionality. Calling it "Classic" means Adobe is going to abandon it (for something worse). I use 3D mapping with Symbols ALL THE TIME. PLEASE add it back.

    Thank you!

    8 votes
    4 comments  ·  Effects, Appearance, Graphic Styles  ·  Admin →
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