Illustrator (Desktop) Feature Requests
When entering a new feature request, please provide:
- Description
- Why is this valuable to you?
- or
947 results found
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Zoom In On Navigator
Zoom In On Navigator
- When I am using the navigator, I'd like to see how certain areas of my document will look when printed. I would like to be able to zoom in on the navigator. See attached file.
- This would help me greatly because I could see small changes and large changes, at a better scale, while not making the navigator take up too much space within your layout.
2 votes -
Artboards should have a purpose
- What is the purpose of having an artboard if anything drawn beyond it shows up as part of your drawing? I exported an artwork as a png file and everything beyond the artboard showed up as part of the artwork. The workspace around the artboard should be able to be used for ideas that may be relevant to future versions of your art or to assist in creating your art.
- When I drew the attached image, I expected that anything beyond the artboard would not show as part of the artwork.
2 votesIllustrator can respect artboards when exporting a raster image, if Use Artboards option in the Export dialog gets checked. In this case everything beyond artboards’ boundaries will get trimmed.
Export for Screens method will respect either artboards or assets, depending on the user’s choice.
Also, there is a view to just hide these excess temporarily with View > Trim View command, but this won’t make changes when exporting.
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Untie the Transform Patterns checkbox in General Options and Transform Effect dialog.
Sometimes (actually pretty often) it is necessary to alter a pattern size for one single object. So you go to Appearance -> Fill -> Effects -> Distort and Transform -> Transform and there you have checkboxes to chose whether to transform object or pattern or both and that is great.
But once you have done this (for one single object) this setting changes the general Option under Preferences->General and this setting affects the entire app, not this file only and you must change it back each time. And that is not that great.2 votes -
In artboard mode enable unit of measure in Distribute Spacing using Align panel
Recently Artboard mode added support for the Align panel’s Distribute commands, which is great, however I can't type in the unit box for distribute. This is surely a quick fix to just enable that box when in ARTBOARD Mode.
I find myself needing to set spacing between artboards all the time, and the rearrange tool does not always work, because it just sets the same distance between multiple artboards.
I have found many scenarios where rearrange does not work, because I have different artboards of different sizes stacked on top and below and left and right.
What I really…
2 votes -
Recolor Artwork flip 2 colors
I want to quickly flip 2 colors within a multi-colored design.
Lets say I have Object A (RED) and Object B (Blue) I want A to be Blue and B to be red. I try to find tutorials about it but couldn't find any. I have tryed everything in recolor artwork but its not possible to switch simply two colors (withing a multi-colored design, large file to see different color options quickly)
2 votesThis can be done with native Recolor options dialog, just with dragging one chip over the other. Please refer to the comment inside for details.
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Fix on Crop Mark Position in Save as PDF
If I select the color bar and page information in Marks and Bleeds, the position of the crop mark will be shifted slightly above the center of the page, so it would be helpful if you could position it at the center of the page.
Because the distance of the misalignment is so small, it is often overlooked, and when ordering prints online, it is inconvenient because you have to manually adjust the position or remove the color bar and page information before saving the file.2 votes -
Sort content in links palette + User controlled preflight warnings
Added sorting ability in links palette would be very useful.
Allowing me to sort by file size, alpha, date placed, date altered. Similar to finder or windows explorer. Allowing me to rearrange the columns to suit my needs.A preflight indicator of any potential conflicts would be a nice add as well.
CMYK doc with an RGB image placed. Unused nodes swatches, does this doc contain any overprint items, that kind of thing. In a perfect world I could set in prefs what I want warnings for.2 votes -
Separate "Ask when opening" settings for color mismatches
We have a large team that's constantly opening previous projects. The print team is separate from the video team.
For the video team, the CMYK profile is sort of irrelevant, but the RGB isn't.
Is there a way to have Illustrator tell about only RGB color mismatches when opening the file, and just preserve CMYK?
Basically, I'd like to have the result of "Ask when opening" different for CMYK and RGB.
That way the team can keep a policy of preserving CMYK without getting a popup every time, but act only RGB profile mismatches.
2 votes -
Fix annoying save bug after adjusting UI preferences
I just encountered an annoying save bug that caused me to lose 90 minutes of work in Illustrator. Here is the sequence of events:
• I opened an existing document in AI, with the intention of changing it and saving as something else.
• I opened preferences and made a minor UI adjustment (tweaked the size of my tool bar).
• Dialog #1 stated that changes will not occur until you restart AI. Would you like to restart? Yes/No.
• I selected YES (without thinking), under the assumption that I would be given the option to 'save as.'
• Dialog #2…
2 votes -
Option to assign chosen profile selection to all open documents in Missing Profile box
When opening a project, I frequently have to choose either not to colour manage or I have to assign a particular profile to the document due to working with a number of different print houses. As I can sometimes open 10-20 documents at a time to edit them, would it be possible to assign the designated choice to all open documents at the same time, i.e., have a selection box you can tick to 'Apply selected profile option to all open projects'?
Currently it is really laborious choosing the profile for each individual file as it opens.
2 votes -
Editable path smoothing for pencil and brush paths
I'm proposing smoothing that may be applied or removed after a path has been created with the pencil or brush tool by the user. When a path is being created, the program would capture necessary coordinate information and the path would be represented on screen as drawn, or with a certain amount of smoothing (set prior to drawing in tool panel). If the user wanted more or less smoothing applied after creating the path, the amount could be adjusted by selecting the path and changing the amount applied. If the path would no longer need adjusting, it could be expanded…
2 votes -
Share for Review entire drawing area
It would be great if you could choose to either share for review in Illustrator artboard by artboard (as exists now) or to share the entire pasteboard/drawing area so a reviewer could see all of the artboards at once. View the file exactly as the author sees it, akin to how Figma does it. Sometimes the finished area is helpful for review. Other times, such as early in the design phase when you're really just ideating, sharing the whole mess makes more sense. I currently screenshot the whole thing, but that makes commenting harder.
3 votes -
1 vote
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Request to Remove or Hide the "Home" Icon in Illustrator Interface
The "Home" icon in the top-left corner of the Illustrator interface is intrusive and unnecessary for daily workflow. Its placement directly interferes with accessing the "File" dropdown menu, as accidental clicks on the Home icon can disrupt the creative process by taking users out of their active project.
The Home screen can already be disabled in Preferences, making the icon itself redundant. For advanced users who rely on speed and efficiency, the presence of this icon adds no real value and only introduces the risk of misclicks.
Please consider providing an option to hide or disable the Home icon entirely…
2 votes -
"Multiple Record Layout" data merge feature.
I love the "Multiple Record Layout" data merge feature in InDesign. However my merged documents are often opened in Illustrator by the end user to make changes. Currently my client wants a full vector file for laser cutting shapes with custom etched names. They do not translate well with strokes becoming their own object and lines of text disconnecting. The idea to data merge 200+ names in IN makes perfect sense, but in this case the client asked they be done in AI and each name and custom info needs to be brought in by hand manually one name at…
2 votes -
Color swatch mapping with presets for print production
I made this script using ChatGPT, it does mostly everything I need, but I ran into the issue that the option "Merge Swatches" in the Swatches panel, cannot be used/accessed with JavaScript.
I work as Prepress designer and I have to constantly change spot colors to match the swatches that the print operators need to match the colors the client need (Pantone match or paint swatches). Most of these colors are saved in an .ASE file and I have to manually merge them multiple times.
I thought my script was going to fix this for me until I hit that…
2 votes -
Allow us to set a custom scale instead of having only one 1/10 through Large Canvas
I know there is already a massive discussion around this topic, but I had an idea this morning. The "Large Artboard" that is now available as far as I can tell is not truly a new massive artboard. It's just doing 1:10 scale math for you automatically. I see underneath the hood when using my vinyl cutter for example. A file sent to the cutting software sees everything at 10% size. Another example is when copy/paste from large artboard to a normal board, it will come in at 10% size.
Here's my suggestion: Instead of having a single large artboard…2 votes -
Set type units individually instead of globally
It would be really nice to allow the Cap Height and X Height to show in inches, independently from the Em Box units. I know this can be changed gloabally in preferences, but in my line of work, I need use pts for Em Box and inches for Cap Height, and I use them both in the same file for different purposes. I also know that I can just type in 3" in the box and it will set correctly, even though it shows in pts. However, memorizing the pt conversion for every height increment is ridiculous, as is having…
2 votes -
SVG scalable vector export option for use in Microsoft applications
Please include an .svg format without code or mobile device use that will hold clipping, gradients, etc. to use as scalable vector artwork to be placed in MSO applications. This was not an issue in previous versions of Illustrator.
I provide scalable vector artwork from my projects for my clients who work in Microsoft applications by placing "Picture from File" in a PowerPoint Catalog.
When exporting, I get an error message: "Clipping will be lost on roundtrip to Tiny" when opening them back up and the artwork is distorted.
I got better results with "Save a copy" however, I still…
2 votes -
Power Efficiency
Since I've moved to working remotely entirely, I've noticed how quickly using several Adobe programs burns through my laptop battery. I'm running a brand new 16" Macbook Pro with the latest MacOS Catalina version, and I'm lucky if I get an hour and a half of battery life while running InDesign and Illustrator at the same time. When I review what is using the most battery life, my Mac lists InDesign, Illustrator, and Core Sync as the main culprits.
Now, I understand that these programs at times are fairly graphically intensive, but the battery life I'm getting is absymal, and…
2 votes
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