Illustrator (Desktop) Feature Requests
When entering a new feature request, please provide:
- Description
- Why is this valuable to you?
190 results found
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3D no longer vector
The new 3D tool in illustrator no longer produces vectors - after expanding appearance even simple non shaded shapes are raster objects. Which is a huge let down. I used to do a lot of vector isometric illustrations and now this completely killed my workflow. Please add an option for that. Thank you!
2 votesThe previous way of creating 3D is still there and will stay there, no worries!
Go Effect > 3D and Materials > 3D (Classic) to access the tools you need.
Also you can enable Render as Vector in 3D and Materials panel, but it’s not that powerful yet as the older method. This will be better in next releases.
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Feature to Adjust (Increase or Decrease) Space between Words
Please add a new feature to adjust the space between words that we can increase or decrease the gap between words.
2 votesYou can do this by opening Justification dialog in Paragraph panel menu, and tweaking the Word Spacing values, Desired and Maximum (Maximum must be equal or larger than Desired). Works both for Point and Area Type texts.
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Recolor Artwork Swatch Replacement
I would like a simple interface where I can see what colors are being used in my document and have the ability to select colors and replace them with swatches (either from the swatches panel, a cc library, or by entering values). The current process of merging/replacing swatches in the swatch panel is time consuming and frustrating. Seems like the recolor artwork panel should have this functionality. I don't want to scale tints or use color groups. A use case for this is making sure an illustration only uses brand colors, or if you need to update an illustration with…
2 votesYou can do this using the Recolor panel (the full one, that is under Advanced Options). It’s quite straightforward, although not obvious.
Double-click the small color chip under in the New column, and the Color Picker dialog appear. Then click the Color Swatches button and choose a swatch you need. No hustle with the scaling of tints or putting your swatches in color groups, it’s that simple.
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alt click swatches to add colors to a selected gradient
With a gradient object selected, it would be much quicker to alt click swatches from the swatch panel to add to current selection
2 votesThis is exactly how it works now — Alt+clicking a swatch applies it to selected gradient stop. Please comment if it’s not what you had in mind.
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Auto-activate Adobe Fonts
Can there be a preference to always auto-activate Adobe fonts without a dialog box?
2 votes -
Bring back menu highlighting feature in 'HELP' menu
Please bring back menu highlighting feature for Illustrator and Photoshop! In previous versions, you could type a word in the HELP dropdown (i.e. "offset path in Ai"), and the menu where the item is located would drop down and highlight the item. This is very useful because designers sometimes remember the name of a feature, but not where it is located. Also for learning it is very useful.
2 votesDiscover panel now highlights the location for all commands you search for with it. Call it with Help > Illustrator Help or with F1 hotkey.
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flip artboard dimensions/orientation
Many versions ago, there used to be a little arrow next to the artboard dimensions that would switch the width and height values. Meaning, if I had 8.5x11, I could hit the button to change the dimensions to 11x8.5. Where did it go?
2 votesYou can change an artboard’s orientation by clicking a corresponding album or portrait button in the Control panel. For some reason there is not one in Properties, so please add your votes if you want to have it there
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Unlock individual items
Please add the ability to unlock individual items (instead of having to unlock all, then relock all but the one you need). We've been working around this for years, so when I noticed it was available in XD, I thought I'd ask for it to available in Illustrator
2 votesIllustrator allows to unlock individual objects on canvas, if you enable 'Select and Unlock object on Canvas' option in Preferences, Selection & Anchor Display section.
Also, you can right click on the spot that has your locked object, choose Unlock and then this item by its name, without enabling that option.
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Allow for graphics placed from CC Library to be expanded and converted to curves
Right now, when you place a vector from the CC Library, you can't use it as if it were a vector created on the spot. This hinders speed of creation and prevents 2 crucial things:
- You can't change colors of the vector without editing the original CC item
- You can't use it with pathfinder for a print job for example (imagine you want to cut a shape out of PVC or something). Right now, to do this, you must double click the library item, copy and paste it on your document.
Altough it might not seem much work, if, for…
2 votesYou can drag an asset with the Alt/Opt key held to embed it instead of placing.
However, please note a PDF-copy of an asset is used, and not the original artwork you had imported into a Library, which means the embedded copy can have extra clipping masks and expanded effects.
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Stretching objects
A stretch function allows to e.g. move a door in a wall. The door is moved, one wall is enlarged and the other wall is shortened. This is done by drawing a box through the walls and around the door, and then by moving the selection. Object that are completely within the selection are moved. Object that cross the selection box are stretched.
2 votesSelect points needed with the Direct Selection tool and move them altogether.
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2 votes
You can restore all warning dialogs with Preferences > General: Reset All Warning Dialogs command
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Crop command embedding linked images
I would be thankful if linked images remain linked (instead of being embedded after using the crop command). I would like to believe that this can be made possible. This is the normal behaviour in other graphic design software.
2 votesIf you want to keep a cropped image as a live linked image, you should Clip it instead. Press the Mask button (in Control or Properties panel) and Ai will create and select a rectangular path with the same dimensions. Transform this path with any tool you like or with the bounding box, and the image inside will remain unembedded.
Crop command, on the other hand, is intended specifically for 'physical' cropping, and since Ai won’t edit the original placed image, it gets embedded and then cropped.
Just use the method you need.
Please comment back if it works for you.
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Button to reveal a Layer on "Layer window"
Is there a possibility to create a right-clic option to "reveal on Layer window" from any object? Sometimes when I receive some .ai files, everything is un-organized and must travel over layers and layers... This option is in After Effects and is very helpful.
Thanks for reading!2 votesYou can do this now with the Locate Object button in the bottom of the Layers panel.
However, this is not an automatic thing. If you wish to have an option for it to be automatic, vote here: https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657-illustrator-feature-requests/suggestions/39104935-automatic-locate-object
If you want to be able to assign a hotkey to it without wrapping it into an action, vote here: https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657-illustrator-feature-requests/suggestions/34798945-add-keyboard-shortcut-for-locate-object-button-in
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Would like to be able to entries in the Appearance Panel and perform Pathfinder functions to them
Example: Select 2 strokes in the appearance panel, one transformed some distance from the other, and apply the pathfinder Unite function (Fx) and have them become functionally one entry on one layer of the selected object. This could eliminate some what are sometimes complicated procedures when outputting files to various RIP/machines/printers.
2 votesYou can group objects first and then apply an additional stroke to this group using the Appearance panel
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Freeform gradients to grayscale
It would be awesome if we could convert freeform gradients to grayscale just like with a normal gradient.
2 votesYou can do this by executing Edit > Edit Colors > Convert to Grayscale
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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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Illustrator CC 23.0.1 keeps reopening after closing a file
After I close out a file in Illustrator a blank window pops up ready to make another file. Very irritating. If I wanted to start another file I would open it manually. Otherwise I have to close out the new window to do some other task on my computer. How do I make it stop opening back up??Attached is the window that keeps popping up.
2 votesThis is Home Screen. This behavior can be disabled in Preferences, with the 'Show the home screen when no documents are open' option
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Disable autocrop suggestions
The aggressive new autocrop suggestions in Illustrator 23.0 are a huge hassle. Every new crop I make I have to move the suggested crop lines back on 2-3 of the sides of my cropping image, or risk losing as much as 70% of the original image. Very much a waste of my time and a headache.
2 votesAs per the comment, disable the 'Enable Content Aware Defaults' in Preferences > General to turn crop suggestions off
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Сreate a offset path preset
I typically use the same 2 offset path sizes .125 and .0625 there needs to be a way to save these presets so I dont need to manually type them each time.
2 votesThe intended way to do presets like this is to record an action, as per the comment.
Open Actions panel, create a new one, select a basic temporary shape, run Offset Path command, enter the value you need, commit, stop the action recording. Now you can run the action to automatically offset the selection.
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Pattern origin
Why is the pattern anchored to the art board and not the item? I often create shapes and apply a pattern (lets say a plaid) and I adjust the alignment of the pattern so that it is equal on all sides. If I then copy the shape containing the pattern so that I can then offer the client a different color combination of the pattern, I now have to nudge the pattern of the new shape to align properly again! Because the pattern is anchored to the art board not the shape.
2 votesThis behavior can be toggled in Preferences > General > Transform Pattern Tiles.
Once enabled, the pattern stays relative to the object it’s applied to, when you move or copy it between documents.
It also makes it deform if you stretch, resize, rotate, skew or transform the object, because it’s all a part of 'transformations' we can make.
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