My vote would be to have all of this in a separate app.

Great work on these d3 charts! Also thx for the added workflow detail, this helps a lot. Mapping your process to ours – everything is great until the chart has to "unlink" with the data connection when we hit SVG crowbar, then export to AI for cosmetics and finally placement into Indesign. There is value as the data is tied directly to the basic chart, removing manual cut/paste errors which is great. However, we've now lost the link to data when we hit illustrator, after cosmetics are applied. So what happens when the Splunk (or other) data server engine updates the Excel file, after the chart is built and placed into Indesign layout? We would then have to build the chart all over again, we are still manual. Here is our "end-state-goal" – to be able to have Co. data fed from Splunk (or other) into .xlsx format (or other), have Illustrator link to that file and stay linked to that file, while all manor of unique cosmetics are applied to it. Then when the data gets updated, we get a notification it's out of data as far down the chain as indesign even! The chart remains tied to the live data until packaged for printer. In fact, the data file links (.xlsx, .txt etc.) are included in the links folder when packaged ... that sort of thing. Of course all of the interface/functionality details would be modernized as well (doesn't have to be all at once). So that's our hope! We keep the creativity of AI, but add the robust d3/Excel type features, and the data is always linkable.

There's no doubt that d3 and javascript can be a steep learning curve. But the templates were born out of our graphics department and predominantly coded by our designers, myself included. They are created to get you 90% of the way there in terms of generating the chart and are self-contained in terms of being able to run them locally on your machine, so the data (excel spreadsheet) stays on the machine where the chart is being created. When the data is updated the chart automatically updates. We then use SVG crowbar to export the chat and open it in illustrator for minor tweaks. They are born out of a need for a flexible design tool to reliably generate charts. We've been asking Adobe to re-write the chart engine for illustrator and make it scriptable since 2003. They even paid us a visit back then when we showed them just how valuable this would be. But eventually gave up and created our own.

Thanks for the FT Vocab, and d3 reference, a deep resource for sure! Especially for those .js enabled and on the programmer side. Even though these charts may be printed technically, they do not offer the same hands-on visual creative design and control as AI for print/PDF design. Illustrator fuses designer creativity with data and metrics. If data retrieval, linking, initial render and options were modernized, matching the range of data visualizations as Excel, you'd have a major winner. As a previous poster mentioned, data is controlled and protected, and should not sit on random cloud servers outside a users protected network. So glad there is a U turn on that. If Microsoft wanted to, they could fill this hole with their Excel engine. Just fill-out the designer features, and make their charts export into specific vector sizes and formats, for print purposes.

Scott Wallace, you might like to take a look at the FT Visual Vocabulary. https://github.com/ft-interactive/chart-doctor/tree/master/visual-vocabulary. This is backed by a series of d3 templates that allows publication in a series of styles depending on the publication medium (web, print, social etc)

How far is Project Lincoln??? Any news??? There are so many good online Chart-Tools/Platforms right now – but Illustrator still in the 80's regarding Charts… :-(

I work for a Fortune 500 Co. We produce an annual report with ~100 charts by hand. There is a major demand for:
• Links to data for automated update and reduction of human cut/paste errors
• Mirroring of Excel in terms of basic functioning and control over elements like trend lines, inverse graphs.
• No bugs, such as scales that go out of alignment upon refresh, causing rework.

This is a perfect candidate for a separate app. I think when it is framed as a separate app, the features are more robust. When it is framed as a part of illustrator the tendency is to limit function so as not to overwhelm the basic user. My suggestion is to create a new app, that is highly robust, then also update illustrator or even remove the charting function altogether, so people realize the two really should not be under the same roof anymore. The big sell is that you are freeing a ton of people and orgs their greatest resource "Time."

SOME things about the Illustrator graph tool are great – the ability to create infographic graph elements that can slide specifically. But the rest of the process is almost a specialisation to the point that my partner gets frustrated with the multiple iterations required sometimes to just complete one graph.

Can we just have a graph tool capable of what Excel did 10 years ago?

Can we just have a graph tool capable of what Excel did 10 years ago?

Echoing everyone else here for the graph tool to be completely overhauled! In addition to all the good suggestions, could you also make it possible to delete data from more than one cell at a time? I'd be okay with a separate app, without the need for the data or charts to be synced through Cloud Libraries—just stick to exporting to any desired format.

Concerning questions 1/2: I would prefer a separate Desktop App – to be flexible in every direction and Media… Most imporant is to have it data driven (database, CSV, excel, web cms etc.)

Any Update around Max' Project Lincoln???

Have been screaming for this also for years! Initially imagined a separate app approach as well. Need various ways to build charts (pie, bar, line, custom, etc.), apply effects, strokes, shapes, remain clean preferably in a vector state AND continue to be editable! Client changes are guaranteed throughout the production process -- so the ability to update the data and see it reflected in the design would be exciting.

My vote is for a separate tool. I think charting is complex enough and the needs of chart designers specialized enough to justify having its own program.

You might want to explore providing the data-entry portion of the app. or function as an editable, exportable, and printable table rather than a modal window. Importing or pasting data from, say, Excel goes without saying but being able to create tables in Illustrator and either format them as tables for use in illustrations or to use the data in them to generate the graphs strikes me as an approach with a lot of potential. It is much the way Excel works.

Additional comments

[1] There is an enormous market here and I have been perplexed that Adobe has left this function--poorly written code from the 1990s--unimproved for so long. This may be because those producing graphs form a small subset of Illustrator users. Perhaps this is an argument for a separate application.

[2] There is a sweet spot in the market for a graphing app. (or an improved, integrated function in Illustrator) from Adobe that takes advantage of the company's expertise with graphics, type and colour to distinguish the product from complex and expensive programmes designed to manipulate data but in which the quality of the output is a secondary consideration.

[3] Integration with SVG is important

[4] Access to the code for scripting and automation would be ideal.

[1] The resetting of the chart upon making changes and the awkward data entry are the chief drawbacks for me though the other points made above are spot on.

[2] I make up graphs (hundreds each year) in Illustrator, despite the frustration caused by the many defects of the graphing function, because I can place the graphs in InDesign and update is automatic when one uses Edit Original; and because it gives me access to the Adobe Type Engine. If you can build a separate, desktop app that retains those features, I would be happy to have it. But, having the other tools in Illustrator to enhance the graphs is also useful. I'm not keen on an app. in the cloud.

[3] In a separate app. the ability to place the graphs for print and export for web smoothly and easily is important. Integration with CC Libraries would be very useful.

[4] I will be happy to test a new app. or improved functionality in Illustrator.

There seems to be work enough on the main Illustrator app and nothing seems to have been done for several years on the graphing/charting function so my preference would be to see a separate app, with the ability to export in whatever format is best for use in Ai, Ps, Ae, Id or any other Adobe app.

As many of the other comments have stated, this functionality is WAY out of date now and really needs to be addressed.

Separate desktop app to allow integration into Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, AfterEffects, PremierPro. For those that do a lot of infographic posters, animated video, a separate app that had various forms of integration would seem like a very powerful too.