I would also like this to be a global option. I have to follow a workflow where exported files are put into a specific folder and _never_ put into another folder. I recognize though that everyone has different processes and even different ones per folder or file so some options here would be great.

I'm not sure if it's supposed to be saving the option for each file, but mine resets to the "source folder" every time for every file, even if it was previously set to another location in this version of Illustrator. So it sounds like I'm running up against what Andy and Philip King have run into.

TLDR Please make this an option, as you can't really predict the workflow for every user in every situation. Users should be able to control their workflow as needed.

Yes please! Remember the export profiles per file!

I don't want the settings used in whatever random project I was working on last. That makes no sense.
This goes along with prefixes/suffixes and saving in the correct directory. At the moment I'm spending all my time navigating to the correct folder.

Actually, yes - what Andy said - saving the path in the file would be a good compromise and appease 2 of the 3 groups!

I agree with Philip King. I am in the 1st camp (path to be saved in the file). I feel like this would also accommodate the last option to some extent as well since after the first save the location will remain the same.

Yes, it looks like Adobe have gone part way to addressing our needs but have made it worse in the process. The latest version (24.2.1) sets the path to the source file’s location regardless of whether a different path was set previously. I encountered this yesterday, rushing to output edits to assets and expecting them to overwrite the earlier output but finding instead that I had to re-set the export path.

Three groups of people need to be accommodated: those (like me) who want the path to be saved in the file so that each file remembers its own specific export location; those (like Lucas Bianchetti, below) who want every export to be directed to one specific location; and perhaps also a few people who always want their output to be in the same location as the source file.

The last of these is probably the smallest constituency, yet this is the solution given us in the latest version.

I really preferred how the last location saved to was retained from session to session.

At least the location is retained while working on the same file, but it is tedious to set this for every file I open.

Can this please be an option? Really liked the previous behaviour where I had only one export folder for all files automatically, now I have to change my setup again for a feature that is no longer present. An option for both behaviours would be great. I understand the frustration and the need for the request in this post, but some of us really liked the previous behaviour.

I noticed some time ago that export for screens settings for PDF are not actually what the function uses when exporting PDFs of all artboards. Instead it uses whatever the last-used PDF export or 'save-as > pdf' joboptions settings were.

For instance, I can select a custom joboptions in export for screens, but if I most recently used save-as and selected PDF-X/4 preset, then export for screens will use PDF-X/4 instead.

Not sure whether that's an intended behavior, but the way the dialog it set up to allow selecting a specific joboptions setting I don't believe it is intentional.

Agree 100%. The latest version now defaults to the folder were the AI file is located. It's even worse! Please save the export for screen per project!

@Felix: Thanks. Yes, this is also in plans. We'll start work on this soon.

@Varun would be great if the last used custom preset was also remembered by the file... I'm constantly toggling PNG transparency depending on the file I'm working on (icons vs screen designs for UI design)

Thanks Varun, that’s very good news. These are nuisances I encounter daily.

@Philip King: Thanks, we are looking into these requests as well. In particular, Ability to create custom presets is on the to-do list, and will soon be picked.

What I want is confidence that when I open a file and export assets, the export location will the the same folder as the last time I exported from that file, regardless of how many other exports I’ve done in the meantime from other files to other locations.

Additional:

- the export dialog should display the full path without having to tab into the field
- the export format settings should be saved with the file, not as a global setting
- the optional prefix should be specific to the file and saved with it
- the list of assets should show filenames in full when the window is expanded

There are feature request on all these going back to 2018 at least.

In fact it turns out I posted about the problem with filename length back in 2017
https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657-illustrator-feature-requests/suggestions/32695579-asset-export-panel-list-view-clips-filenames-to-ap

It would also be good to get some attention on the long-standing request regarding export presets:
https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657-illustrator-feature-requests/suggestions/32015539-custom-presets-for-asset-export

Perfect, look forward to seeing it in the product

Thanks Drew and Felix.

@Felix: Yes, the path for the second file will not be the same as first file.

The way it should work is exactly like PS.

Open a .ai file in folder A, and when you export, it will export back to folder A (unless you then navigate to a different folder to save in to).

Then if you open another .ai file from say folder B, when you go to export it will export back to folder B (unless like before you then navigate to a different folder to save in to)

@Varun Sounds great! Can i just confirm:

In you example below, if I open a second file and hit export, the export path shown will be the last used path for the second file, not the path for the first file?

@Felix and Andrew: The way we are planning to implement is: When you hit export, the path shown will be that of the folder in which path resides. If you change this path to some other folder, then it will remember this path, and for your subsequent export, this new path will be shown. And this will work at file level.

Is this what you have in mind? Or did I misinterpret?

I echo Felix's comments. I generally export files to a sub directory of the AI file location.