Illustrator (Desktop) Feature Requests
When entering a new feature request, please provide:
- Description
- Why is this valuable to you?
- or
575 results found
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Auto-adjust text box to text
In the past, with Freehand, we could to do that by clicking on the bottom corner right of the text box.
Recover that would be a good idea.
Thanks!9 votesLatest versions of Illustrator can do that.
If you have the bounding box enabled, double-click the bottom filled square handle to toggle Auto Size.
You can also do that in Area Type Options dialog.
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Aligning to a certain object
The Align tools in all Adobe programs is a wonderful feature. However, in Illustrator when you Align objects it changes the position of ALL of them. In other programs, it tends to be the last object you select takes the dominant position - aligning all others to it. In Illustrator it doesn't seem to matter the order you select, it just aligns it to the nearest center point (thus moving ALL the objects). The Lock feature doesn't help as you cannot select a locked object to align with/to.
16 votesYou can align to an object you choose to be the key one.. Click the object you want to use as a key the second time and Ai will use a bolder edge to highlight it.
More details here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miVLI8rwO1o https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/moving-aligning-distributing-objects.html
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Make an option for the Bounding box to hug text tightly
For the love of God, please make an option for the bounding box around text to only bound to the visible text. When I'm aligning text, either visually or by inputting numbers in the transform panel, I absolutely do not care about invisible space, what I want is what I can see to be centered or aligned. I'm so sick of having a text box snap to a guide or object, or me inputting exact numbers in the transform panel, only for the text to be offset and misaligned. if this option DOES exist,…
20 votes -
Auto fit text in text panel
It would be really useful if Illustrator could autofit text within set parameters, similar to InDesign. This would minimize over matter that often occurs when importing text, especially when using the variable links.
I mean resize the text to fit the text frame to avoid over matter and get everything in. Text frame size should not change.3 votes -
Type/Text Variables / Insert Variables / Modification Date
Please add Type/Text Variables/Insert Variables/Modification Date upon save. Same as InDesign.
42 votes -
Select Same Text Contents
Please make a way to select text object with the same contents.
Would be very useful for many practical cases.
Sure with have Find and Replace, but it won’t allow us to SELECT these text objects,, which we can use for styling, hiding, moving, rearranging, and more.11 votesThe latest Beta version (27.7) has the ability to filter contents of the Layers panel with an input field at the top of the panel. It does not directly select the objects that have the chosen value in their names (this includes the text contents), but allows to select them faster in the panel.
Does it help?
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Add ability to hyperlink text
Make text linkable to a url or email when exported to a PDF, like you can already do in InDesign.
Only being able to do this in a PDF means that if you make an update in Illustrator and export as a PDF again, you have to re-do all your hyperlinks.
134 votesHi Everyone,
This functionality is available in our latest release build – 27.6.1.
Hyperlinks added through Attributes panel are retained while exporting as PDF.
Read more about this - https://helpx.adobe.com/in/illustrator/using/whats-new/2023-5.html#pdf-hyperlinks
Thank you for all the feedback.
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Go back to old Align to Pixel check box
I wish Illustrator would go back to having a check box for align to pixel. That way I could see just by clicking on an object or objects that it is aligned. Now, in Illustrator CC 2017, I have to select every object seperately and press the new button on the top right, in order to get the message that it is aligned.
1 vote -
Keyboard shortcuts for Bold and Italic text
It would be useful if, while typing/editing text, there was a keyboard shortcut to add BOLD or ITALICS - highlight the word, hit CTRL + B to bold, for example.
52 votesHappy to share that you can now format your text using the following keyboard shortcuts :
Shift + Ctrl (Win) / Cmd (Mac) + B (Bold) / I (Italic) / U (Underline)
You can also customise these shortcuts from the keyboard settings
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Nested Text Styles
Provide for nested Character and Paragraph Styles in Illustrator. This is a staple in InDesign and would be very helpful in Illustrator. We have standardized on Illustrator for many templates in our workflow. In general, Illustrator is more appropriate, but text editing is a weak spot. This would help.
17 votes -
Text moves when adjusting an applied Text Effect...
When you apply Arc (or any other text effect) to text, then adjust the percentage of Arc, the text moves up. You have to reposition the text to where it was... Inconvenient when you're trying to warp the text around an existing object. Would be ideal if the text would stay in place when the effect is adjusted.
3 votes -
Illustrator should prioritize editing the currently focused text over other text objects when placing a cursor or making a text selection
If I have a text box selected and switch to the text tool, why does Illustrator assume I want to select a non-selected text box to edit text in? It should prioritize the selected text box over non-selected text boxes.
5 votes -
'Position-Lockable' Text Boxes/text
Would it be possible to be able to 'lock' the position of a text box/line of text, but for the text content still be editable? This would be great for templated work, or just to make sure nothing shifts on the artboard to keep consistency.?
2 votes -
Add ability to apply gradient to text without using new fill
AI allows to make live text colored with gradient only by applying new fill to a text. This knowledge often comes occasionally, when users finally got into Appearance. AI just doesn't says it't wrong, shows no hint, does nothing when people try to apply gradient as they do for everything else.
Meantime, each symbol within text can have their own fill.
And when you apply gradient with a drag to an ungrouped set of path objects, AI applies gradient to all of them, placing each gradient into right position.Thus I just don't understand, why AI still doesn't allow…
42 votes -
Convert Text in After Effects
The ability to trace text in After Effects and to remain as text rather than having to copy and paste from Illustrator (just like you can convert Photoshop text to After Effects text)
4 votes -
In-line Graphics / Anchor Object to text ability (like InDesign)
Please allow in-line graphics in text paragraphs, so graphics will move along with the rest of the copy within text. I am working on a lot of signage/wayfinding and the rooms keep getting moved about. Arro symbols and toilet icons have to be positioned manually and it is VERY time consuming. I wish the original artwork had been created in InDesign! Thanks
49 votesPlease share some real cases for this feature you had in your practice, which could have benefit greatly from having inline graphics. It will help the team to plan it and make it more useful for Ai users, than analogues we have in InDesign and Figma.
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Ability to script warp text or object with horizontal and vertical distortions values
As of right now, it is difficult for me to adjust warp text using a JSX script since you do not expose the bend % or values of the horizontal and vertical distortions. Can this be added to JSX script?
4 votes -
Please turn the eyedropper into a cursor for multiple text formatting
Indesign allows you to drag over multiple words within a text box, or over various different places to apply a text attribute with the eyedropper tool. ie, the eyedropper when hovered over the text actually becomes like a cursor, so you can just swipe over the text to apply the attribute. Please can Illustrator have this same feature. Otherwise we have to use the cursor to locate the word, then shift+arrow right to highlight it, then click to apply. It's a bit annoying and time-wasting. The eye-dropper turning into a cursor when hovering over text is much more useful.
16 votes -
Order of Text Appearance
Adobe Illustrator, it would be greatly appreciated if the text appearance is adjusted to have "Fill" placed above " Outline color" when adding a new fill.
This change would be particularly beneficial for users like myself who frequently use stroke attributes, especially for creating outlined text.
Please consider this request, and thank you for your attention.
6 votes -
Make Smart guides optionally work with live text
Sometimes it is needed to snap to contour of live text.
Right now it requires to make a copy of text, outline it, snap to desired point/segment, delete copy.What if user could tick an option that allows to snap to live glyphs? or use 'Ctrl' modifier to toggle this mode on the fly? It would allow us to skip copying-outlining-snapping-deleting and boost the speed.
19 votesSnap to Glyph option, available in the View menu, released in the version 24.3 (2020), allows to snap to the live text as if it is outlined.
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