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Illustrator (Desktop) Feature Requests

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184 results found

  1. 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.

    8 votes
    5 comments  ·  Tools  ·  Admin →
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  2. We need, again, Custom Bevels in 3D-Extrude & Bevel, please!

    Illustrator used to have the ability to create customer Bevel profiles ( in the Bevels.ai file in /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Adobe Illustrator 23/en_US/Symbols ). HOWEVER, the feature is now gone! Please give us the option to create custom Bevels, again! Thank you.

    Last year, 2018, I created a object and gave it a 3D custom bevel, and now I can do nothing with that object. Whenever I try to do something with it Illustrator crashes. I couldn't figure out what was going on until I tried creating a custom Bevel again. There is no way to create a custom Bevel! When I…

    8 votes
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  3. 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
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  4. 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 votes
    4 comments  ·  Tools  ·  Admin →
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  5. 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 votes
    How important is this to you?

    Yep, 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.

  6. 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 votes
    2 comments  ·  Other...  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

    The 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

  7. 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 votes
    2 comments  ·  Tools  ·  Admin →
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    As 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.

  8. 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 votes
    0 comments  ·  Other...  ·  Admin →
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    You 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.

  9. Delete hidden layers

    Would it be great if add the option of deleting all hidden layers as in photoshop..

    6 votes
    3 comments  ·  Other...  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?
    There 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
  10. Remove (customize) tiny shadow behind artboards

    I've noticed this for years... whenever I create a new document in Illustrator--no matter the size or mode and without any bleed settings, the artboard has a tiny grey "drop shadow" behind the artboard. See ATTACHED. It does not affect art and never prints, but more times than I can count I've found myself zooming in and attempting to select/delete it, thinking I left some sort of unwanted element behind while I was working. Or I see the faint "border" and think my graphic elements aren't fully aligned to the page edge, when the actually are.

    5 votes
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  11. 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 votes
    How important is this to you?
    The 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.
  12. 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 votes
    8 comments  ·  Tools  ·  Admin →
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  13. 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 votes
    0 comments  ·  Tools  ·  Admin →
    How important is this to you?

    There 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.

  14. 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
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  15. Copy/move artboards with the content

    Why have you deleted the function "copy/move artboards with the content" in the last update? It was really gorgeous! Now I have to unlock and make visible all the layers again to create several version of my graphic design, and it is really annoying! I would like the possibility to copy/move one or more artboards with the content, even if it is on locked or hidden layers, and without the content when it is on locked or hidden layers.

    Please, consider both functions, the copy/move with content was one of the best updates that you have ever made!!!

    5 votes
    How important is this to you?
  16. 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 votes
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  17. 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 votes
    2 comments  ·  Other...  ·  Admin →
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  18. Presentation screen mode

    Add presentation screen mode, similar to InDesign

    5 votes
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  19. 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 votes
    How important is this to you?
    You 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
  20. Get rid of prompt window

    i would love to be able to hide/get rid of that prompt window that says "generate, edit path, repeat, group, lock.." that pops up. its pretty annoying.

    4 votes
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