Merging is good with me

Brendan, there was a problem the team tried to solve.
Many users were using the Save dialog to create PDFs occasionally, and then, just like with the Export As dialog, the chosen file type would stick and stay.
The change was made due to this request — Allow us to choose a preferable file format on Export or keep the last chosen one, http://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/47550692

This lead to many cases when users expected to save in the native .ai format, but would get a .pdf document instead.
The report was filed — Allow to choose if the Save dialog should "remember the last file format used / PDF is set as a default filetype when saving a new document, https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/50078010

Alas, it makes it ALWAY .ai, but not allow us to control the stickiness, as we asked for.
Workflows differ, and this would have make it possible for everyone to choose the behavior that suits them.
Would you mind me merging you report with the latter one?

I just updated to illustrator 30.1 from illustrator 29.7. One of the features that made my job easier is that when I saved a new document it used the same file format as the last document that I saved, i.e. save as eps if I just saved an eps. In the most recent update this feature seems to be missing for me. Now it is saving every file as .ai. I have to save a lot of files as .eps for printers, so this is making my life harder. Can anyone confirm if this is happening for them as well?

yes, that is what we are asking for! Please update the program so this is fixed

Using a BETA version is NOT a solution to the glaringly obvious bug in the official version!
Why would anyone ever want to use a BETA of an Adobe app when you cannot even make the official releases stable??
FIX IT AND ALLOW US TO SAVE OUR FILES AS .AI - ALWAYS AND IN THE OFFICIAL VERSION OF THE APP!!!!
No one in their right mind would actively choose to always save their Illustrator work as a pdf!!!!

No, it doesn't help. The program should default to save in it's own format. That makes sense.

this is a real problem for me. Illustrator has never defaulted to the last file type saved.. but now it does. Why on earth would you change that? it's deeply annoying and means you can no longer save files without thinking about it. please change it back. surely nobody anywhere ever asked for this

Illustrator 2026 (Beta) (30.0.0 #21)

It had been improved to meet the ideal specifications. Excellent.

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理想的な仕様に改善されていました。素晴らしい。

New Adobe Illustrator files should ALWAYS save as .ai. Anything else is just plain stupid. FIX IT!!!!!
This is a MAJOR bug, and any explanations saying that this is normal functionality are wrong.

I think this should be an option, in both dialogs, — 'Remember the last file format' — enabled by default for Export As, and disabled for Save / Save As

I'm not sure why the change but when I pull up a PDF now in AI it does not automatically save as a PDF, it goes to my last save, and when I use an AI file it will save as a PDF if I have last saved as that. Can you make that an option to save as the last file or per what each file is? It creates a large time waster for me since I am saving both PDF's and AI files for my clients multiple times a day and there is a file for each one I do.

The native format for Adobe Illustrator is exclusively the Adobe Illustrator (.ai) format. When users create new documents and save them for the first time, they rightfully expect the native .ai format to be the default.

This is absolutely fundamental and non-negotiable: Setting any non-native file format as the default for new save operations would be a critical design error that violates core software principles. For an application with its own proprietary file format, defaulting to anything other than that native format for new saves is simply unacceptable.

Why this matters: Users trust that when they save their work in Illustrator, they are preserving it in the application's full-fidelity native format unless they explicitly choose otherwise. Breaking this expectation would compromise data integrity, user trust, and the fundamental purpose of having a native file format.

Recommended Approach:
- New Save: Must always default to .ai format without exception
- Export: Can remember the last selected export format for user convenience

The Export function exists specifically for outputting to non-native formats. That is where format memory belongs, not in the core save functionality.

This is not a preference or suggestion - it is a fundamental requirement for maintaining Illustrator's integrity as a professional application.

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Adobe Illustratorのネイティブ形式は、Adobe Illustrator（.ai）形式のみです。ユーザーが新規ドキュメントを作成し、初回保存を行う際、ネイティブ.ai形式がデフォルトになることを当然のこととして期待しています。

これは絶対に基本的かつ譲れない原則です：新規保存操作で非ネイティブファイル形式をデフォルトに設定することは、ソフトウェアの基本原則に違反する重大な設計ミスとなります。独自のプロプライエタリファイル形式を持つアプリケーションにとって、新規保存でそのネイティブ形式以外をデフォルトにすることは、単純に受け入れられません。

なぜこれが重要なのか：ユーザーは、Illustratorで作業を保存する際、明示的に他の形式を選択しない限り、アプリケーションの完全な忠実度を持つネイティブ形式で保存されることを信頼しています。この期待を裏切ることは、データの整合性、ユーザーの信頼、そしてネイティブファイル形式を持つ根本的な目的を損なうことになります。

推奨されるアプローチ：
- 新規保存：例外なく常に.ai形式をデフォルトにしなければならない
- 書き出し：ユーザーの利便性のため、最後に選択した書き出し形式を記憶することができる

書き出し機能は、非ネイティブ形式への出力を目的として特別に存在しています。形式記憶機能が属すべき場所はそこであり、コアとなる保存機能ではありません。

これは好みや提案ではありません。プロフェッショナルアプリケーションとしてのIllustratorの整合性を維持するための基本的な要件です。

MAC版 29.7.1 一つ前のバージョンから動作がおかしい。

ファイル＞新規　なんでもいいのでアートボードを制作して
ファイル＞保存　をすると、初期の保存形式がAdobe PDFになってしまいます。

Adobe Illustrator形式をデフォルトにしてください。

When saving files sometimes it randomly saves as PDF by default. If I don't notice that it changed the default from ai to pdf my files end up saving as pdf. Sometimes it's fine works normal other days it's saving my files as PDF.

I can see how remembering the last file type could be useful for someone using a different workflow, but for my workflow, I almost never save the same file type twice in a row, so this feature causes me to have to select the file type every single time I save or save as, instead of every 2nd time I save.

Yea that makes sense. I dont think save and export necessarily need to behave the same but yea , it would be nice to have control over these things, even in the preferences/file handling. I kinda understand the persistent file type but i rarely save off multiple pdfs, I want illustrator to save as illustrator files. Maybe its time to overhaul the whole thing and put pdf in export dialog, like indesign. No matter what tho, i think a persistent save LOCATION is completely useless, i would much prefer it to automatically chose the root folder of the file i am working on...

Asher, I bet this is a consequential behavior, caused by this request: https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/47550692
Both dialogs, Export and Save, should behave consistently, and if one remembers the file format (something many requested, here and there), the other one should too.
I think though it makes sense to give us the control over the behavior, right there in the dialog, as a 'Remember the chosen format' option. What do you think about it?

Illustrator now remembers the last used file format in dialogs like Save and Export, following this request: https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657/suggestions/47550692
Do you mean that once after you chose .ai, the next time you try to save a document it still stays at .pdf?

Since newest update, when saving a new document, the file format defaults to PDF instead of .ai. Please change it back to default to .ai, I will decide when I want to make a PDF.

Illustrator has been saving some of my large files as PDFs rather than Illustrator files (when I am just pressing Cmd+S) and the file is definitely not a PDF to begin with. This is frustrating because anything outside of the artboard is no longer in the file, the file must be opened as individual artworks, and all of the text is saved as individual letters in cases where text is typed along a path, or it's saved as individual words.