Illustrator (Desktop) Feature Requests
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4472 results found
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Locking and unlocking objects on a current artboard only
Discussed in our team is the annoying way Illustrator unlocks EVERYTHING on the pasteboard - why can unlocking be isolated to the artboard you are working on? Like indesign. I use locked objects a lot when I am creating concepts and use layers when creating final artwork. Using layers slows down the way you work.
3 votes -
Adobe Illustrator asks you to Save when no changes were made?
Why does Illustrator, for the past many years, ask you to Save when no changes were made? Makes me think I accidentally did something or forgot that I did something. If nothing was changed, Don't ask to Save....please.
3 votes -
Please increase the number of fonts in ”Recent Fonts” option
I work with two different typeface families in daily base (since 1987 when I start with Illustrator). In preferences maximum value of recent fonts is 15. That is a half amount of what I need. Is it possible to increase that value to 30?
3 votes -
Show the angle between two paths when dragging anchors
A new feature I'd like to see is a Smart Guides tool tip which shows the angle that is created between two paths, when manually dragging an anchor.
There could be the option of...
1. ... always displaying the relative angle.
2. ...only displaying the tool tip of common angles, such as 15, 30, 45, 60 degrees.In the attached mock-up, the bottom right-hand anchor of a square is being dragged to the right. The angle that is created relative to the top of the square displays as a tooltip, in this instance 33 degrees.
3 votes -
Make Black Swatch really Black in RGB mode
An old annoyance: in many occasions, in RGB Document mode the Default Black Swatch is not black, but 15,15,15 gray.
This problem shows up in every new version.
Please make sure that when a document is in RGB mode, the Black and White swatches are 0,0,0 and 255,255,255 - just as we may expect.3 votes -
3 votes
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Fix the new "new file" interface – remove misleading "Art & Illustration" tab
I dislike the new "new file" interface. I chose to go back to Legacy and told other Graphic Designers to use legacy-new file also BECAUSE – the "Art & Illustration" tab is VERY MISLEADING. This is an RGB workspace, with low resolution. Yet, some people did not notice this and chose this instead of the "print" tab, as they should have. This can't be only our company that feels this is misleading to the artists. Just DELETE that tab. You already have Web, Mobile, that covers the RGB/low rez options.
or RENAME that tab, if easier. Maybe “DRAWING for SCREEN” would be a better representation of what this new page would be for. (I would NOT call it “Screen Drawing” because some people could assume that is for when you are using a Wacom to draw in Illustrator. trust me…I can picture this)
Also, WHY are you hiding the Raster effects ppi default info inside "more settings"? This is pretty important info to a graphic designer.
I attached directions I sent to my coworkers regarding this, so you can see issue.
Also, FYI – the more you add to illustrator, the glitchier it gets. Stop. It doesn't need anything else.
I dislike the new "new file" interface. I chose to go back to Legacy and told other Graphic Designers to use legacy-new file also BECAUSE – the "Art & Illustration" tab is VERY MISLEADING. This is an RGB workspace, with low resolution. Yet, some people did not notice this and chose this instead of the "print" tab, as they should have. This can't be only our company that feels this is misleading to the artists. Just DELETE that tab. You already have Web, Mobile, that covers the RGB/low rez options.
or RENAME that tab, if easier. Maybe “DRAWING for SCREEN”…
3 votes -
Tabs panel doesn't work well with multiple-area text
Draw a pair of text areas side-by-side (e.g., a two-page spread). Link them and fill with placeholder text. Open the Tabs panel.
The Tabs panel wants to be the width of both columns if you click the "Position Panel above Text" magnet icon. This probably means that much of it is shooting off-screen in one direction or another, as I would typically zoom in to work with a single column of text at a time.
Go somewhere in the second area and type a line like:
"foo bar stuff"
with tabs between the words. My desire is to have the three words left, center, and right aligned with respect to their column. This is tricky given the way the Tabs panel wants to align to the text.The panel should align and be sized to reflect the current text block (i.e., the text block containing the cursor), not all of the linked blocks.
Draw a pair of text areas side-by-side (e.g., a two-page spread). Link them and fill with placeholder text. Open the Tabs panel.
The Tabs panel wants to be the width of both columns if you click the "Position Panel above Text" magnet icon. This probably means that much of it is shooting off-screen in one direction or another, as I would typically zoom in to work with a single column of text at a time.
Go somewhere in the second area and type a line like:
"foo bar stuff"
with tabs between the words. My desire is to have the…3 votes -
export for. screens + variable to append file name
export for. screens -- I want to insert variable to append AI file name so I do not have manually type file name for each canvas exported when creating icons or illustrations
3 votes -
Make New Swatch more intuitive and flexible
When 'None' is selected as current color (or no selection is active), the New Swatch menu item is grayed out, since New Swatch wants to copy the color of the selection.
When having a complex selection (lots of effort sometimes), it is rather dissapointing to not have the possibillity to give it a new color on the fly.
Why not make 'New Swatch' always available?
Intuitively, when no color is active, it should bring up a color selector panel, just like when an existing Swatch is double clicked.
(If you think this is confusing - add a menu item for 'New Swatch from selection')We can alway create a swatch, independent of the selection.
In this way we can build a color scheme from scratch right in the Swatches Panel.
When 'None' is selected as current color (or no selection is active), the New Swatch menu item is grayed out, since New Swatch wants to copy the color of the selection.
When having a complex selection (lots of effort sometimes), it is rather dissapointing to not have the possibillity to give it a new color on the fly.
Why not make 'New Swatch' always available?
Intuitively, when no color is active, it should bring up a color selector panel, just like when an existing Swatch is double clicked.
(If you think this is confusing - add a menu item for…
3 votes -
Asset Export Alt-Drag
Why did you guys require that the existing functionality of dragging a group into the asset export panel now requires the addition of "Alt" - now i have to "Alt-Drag" an item, otherwise the selection breaks apart into all the groups. "Alt-Drag" should have been the keystroke for breaking the asset into groups, leaving the regular drag and drop as is - as people have learned that method already.
Were there user studies conducted that indicated that it was better to change the default behavior, and make the standard behavior do something different?
I have to relearn a mental model because of this.
I run the UX team for my large engineering organization, unless you have strong evidence to support changing preexisting UI conventions, I recommend you leave things as they are, and append new innovations to the the new keystroke
Why did you guys require that the existing functionality of dragging a group into the asset export panel now requires the addition of "Alt" - now i have to "Alt-Drag" an item, otherwise the selection breaks apart into all the groups. "Alt-Drag" should have been the keystroke for breaking the asset into groups, leaving the regular drag and drop as is - as people have learned that method already.
Were there user studies conducted that indicated that it was better to change the default behavior, and make the standard behavior do something different?
I have to relearn a mental model…
3 votes -
Provide layer info of linked file in Links panel! helpful when missing link is on inactive layer...
In multi layered files it is very difficult to spot a missing link if it is not on a visible layer. A simple mentioning of this in the info section would solve this
3 votes -
I wish that the layer panel options were sticky. I don't like having to set the layer icons to be bigger in every document I make. I always
I wish that the layer panel options were sticky. I don't like having to set the layer icons to be bigger in every document I make. I always want them to be: other 50 pixels.
3 votes -
Line snapping to existing line overlapping it
Currently you can snap an anchor point onto a path or other anchor point. I would like to move a straight path/line, or rotate it, and have it snap onto an existing straight paths angle...right now I’m going into Ctrl+Y view to try and align the two lines but its tedious especially when doing this a lot in my design work...
3 votes -
Color labeling of library asset groups
I would like to see colored labeling of library asset groups just like having the ability to color label layers.
3 votes -
Keyboard Command for Expanding Objects
Please. It's so much more intuitive to press ctrl/cmd+a and expand using the keyboard. I work with other peoples files all the time so being able to easily expand their files to make them work is critical.
3 votesYou can assign your own hotkeys via Edit > Keyboard shortcuts, including Object > Expand, Expand Appearance, and object-specific Expand commands (Blend, Shape, Envelope, etc.)
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Save PDF to file size [Target File Size]
It would be very helpful to have a save to File Size option when saving illustrator files (and inDesign Files).
Smallest and Highest are nice to have, but when eMailing a PDF, these two arbitrary sizes can be useless.
As a general rule 10MB is the max size attachment for an email.
Rather than selecting SMALLEST saving it to determine the file size, then Saving it again and going into compression and guessing how much more resolution one can eek out of the compression it would be nice to have a "Target File Size"
I'm guessing this might require some background processing, which could slow down the whole saving process a little. this might be bothersome for some people, so if this could be implement, it should be done so with a turn off option.
It would be very helpful to have a save to File Size option when saving illustrator files (and inDesign Files).
Smallest and Highest are nice to have, but when eMailing a PDF, these two arbitrary sizes can be useless.
As a general rule 10MB is the max size attachment for an email.
Rather than selecting SMALLEST saving it to determine the file size, then Saving it again and going into compression and guessing how much more resolution one can eek out of the compression it would be nice to have a "Target File Size"
I'm guessing this might require…
3 votes -
Circle tool unexcpected results CTRL + SHIFT
using the Circle tool and cntrl + shift produce unexpected results, i excpect some it to create a perfect circle hitting both the starting click down and realease locations like only hitting ctrl dose when creating ovals .
- normal circle tool creates ovals
- holding shift creates circles
- holding ctrl creates a oval from 2 points holding both dose not create a perfect circle from 2 points.
3 votes -
Zoom Tool Controls (Fit to Screen)
Can we make the Zoom Tool have the same Control settings as the Zoom Tool in Photoshop? I design in Large Scale Canvas Files. I like to design Art for Shirt Prints/Broadcasting Graphics for Entertainment Usage/Graphics for Sports Teams.
This means a lot of Re-Scaling Images after put into the documents. When I Re-Scale the images and go to position them. I need to Zoom In onto the destination of the image's positioning.
After I position that image. I can go back to Full-Size Image. But, I have to go to my Magnifier % at the bottom of my program to adjust the scale of the image in my work space?
Why can't I just have the Zoom Tool active and do "Right Click > Fit To Screen" like I can in Photoshop?
If there was a way to bring the Zoom Tool Settings from Photoshop over to Illustrator. This will make for easier navigation in the work flow of your projects.Can we make the Zoom Tool have the same Control settings as the Zoom Tool in Photoshop? I design in Large Scale Canvas Files. I like to design Art for Shirt Prints/Broadcasting Graphics for Entertainment Usage/Graphics for Sports Teams.
This means a lot of Re-Scaling Images after put into the documents. When I Re-Scale the images and go to position them. I need to Zoom In onto the destination of the image's positioning.
After I position that image. I can go back to Full-Size Image. But, I have to go to my Magnifier % at the bottom of my…3 votesIndeed, Illustrator does not have 'Fit to Screen' option in the context menu for the Zoom tool.
But it provides other ways to do that:
View > Fit Artboard in Window (Cmd/Ctrl + 0)
View > Fit All in Window (Opt/Alt + Cmd/Ctrl + 0)
If you are interested in Zoom to Selection command, please vote here: https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657-illustrator-desktop-feature-requests/suggestions/31427962-zoom-to-selection-fit-selection-on-screen-with
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Align between guides option
The option to align between the two closest guides would help greatly when working on a multi-column document. Currently the only way to align to a single section of an artboard is to draw a box and align to that. Aligning to guides would streamline that quite a bit
3 votes
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