Illustrator (Desktop) Feature Requests
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4722 results found
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Allow to set key object inside compound path
When you isolate a group, you can set any part of selection inside this group as key object just by clicking it with Selection tool. This is great — I can align objects inside a group, yay.
But why I can't do the same inside of an isolated compound path?
Why can't I align parts of my compound path using another part of same path as a key object, as I can do inside groups?
Please, fix this.See attached animation.
I try to align squares to the left side of the square hole (I made a guide to show the intention). But when I select them all and the hole only, mark it as a key and try to align — it all jumps to seemingly random spot, hardly matching my desired results.When you isolate a group, you can set any part of selection inside this group as key object just by clicking it with Selection tool. This is great — I can align objects inside a group, yay.
But why I can't do the same inside of an isolated compound path?
Why can't I align parts of my compound path using another part of same path as a key object, as I can do inside groups?
Please, fix this.See attached animation.
I try to align squares to the left side of the square hole (I made a guide to show…26 votes -
Better anti-aliasing
Long time ago I abandoned Xara and moved to Illustrator full-time.
I managed to solve all problems I had encountered with, but several things still bug me.One of them is this:
https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447-illustrator-bugs/suggestions/31525333-minus-front-on-grouped-objects
https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447-illustrator-bugs/suggestions/32954797-pathfinder-must-work-with-group-as-a-single-objectThe other one is a crude antialiasing.
See attached images.
Zara puts more shades of gray to show the slope of test line, while AI leaves more uniformly filled areas. It gets more noticeable when angle gets sharper.
Changing anti-alising options doesn't help.Please, make anti-aliasing better.
26 votes -
Identify and name color swatches with human-readable names
There is a very handy tool in Yandex.ru search engine, named 'Колдунщик' (literally 'Sorcererer', with triple 'er').
The way it works with colors is briefly described there (in Russian):
https://yandex.ru/blog/company/94762What it does is binds color names with color values. Some are quite standard, 'light blue', some are familiar, like 'bordeaux' (but every man think of different shade or even tone, speaking of it), some are very uncommon, like 'The color of the thigh of a frightened nymph' (it is a real color — https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuisse_de_Nymphe).
What if AI could name colors in a same way, when swatch is created (working in pair with a value method)?
For example, I create swatch HSV 39-29-100 and AI offers variants for naming it: 'C=0 M=11 Y=35 K=0' or 'Peach' or 'C=0 M=11 Y=35 K=0 Peach' or 'Peach C=0 M=11 Y=35 K=0'.There is a very handy tool in Yandex.ru search engine, named 'Колдунщик' (literally 'Sorcererer', with triple 'er').
The way it works with colors is briefly described there (in Russian):
https://yandex.ru/blog/company/94762What it does is binds color names with color values. Some are quite standard, 'light blue', some are familiar, like 'bordeaux' (but every man think of different shade or even tone, speaking of it), some are very uncommon, like 'The color of the thigh of a frightened nymph' (it is a real color — https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuisse_de_Nymphe).
What if AI could name colors in a same way, when swatch is created…
26 votes -
Add the ability to select an object by clicking it's visual appearance (strokes, glyphs, effects)
Sometimes selection tools fail (seemingly) to pick up object.
For example, if you have an object with fat stroke, clicking to outside part of that stroke will select nothing (or object underneath stroke) — you have to select in/inside edge to do it.
Second example — type object, with an empty descender zone, behind baseline; you click below letters to select an object behind, but pick type object instead.
Third example — object with a subtle but wide drop shadow effect applied to it. Shadow is almost invisible (low opacity and light color), but when you click in it, AI selects object anyway, while you expect to select object behind it.I guess, it would be nice to have an option (and temp mode as well) for Direct selection tool to pick an object based on visual rather the structure.
You could set a tick in Control panel or hold some modifier key (as Photoshop does, when you toggle auto-select for Move tool).
Then you could pick an object, by clicking in outside part of the stroke, or clicking through letters, or clicking through enough transparent shadows.Sometimes selection tools fail (seemingly) to pick up object.
For example, if you have an object with fat stroke, clicking to outside part of that stroke will select nothing (or object underneath stroke) — you have to select in/inside edge to do it.
Second example — type object, with an empty descender zone, behind baseline; you click below letters to select an object behind, but pick type object instead.
Third example — object with a subtle but wide drop shadow effect applied to it. Shadow is almost invisible (low opacity and light color), but when you click in it, AI…26 votes -
Make cursor instantly visible after jumping with arrows keys
While navigating text with arrows (or Ctrl/Cmd + arrows), especially in short word clusters, something like these:
mon-sun: 10:00–19:00
break: 13:00–14:00
it's quite hard to understand where cursor has landed after last jump, because cycle of blinking seem to stay the same or even elongate!
There's a second after jump until cursor is finally drawn.
Could you please add or fix it in such a way that cursor is immediately visible after any arrow jump?26 votes -
Import/Export DXF AAMA/ASTM
In order to be able to work back and forth with Fashion Cad Softwares, it should be useful for Illustrator to handle AAMA or ASTM standard of DXF.
I guess that Artboards could act as "Blocks" in order to remain the Pattern names and the layer hierarchy of entities (for trace, cut, punch or text)26 votes -
Customizable zoom levels (including mouse wheel zoom and hotkeys)
The current mouse wheel zoom (ALT + wheel) only navigates between zoom presets, making it incredibly difficult to use since the scale factor only doubles/halves most of the time. This is especially true when using touch mouse wheels (e.g., Microsoft surface mouse).
A setting that switches between this mode and a finer grain zoom (e.g., +/- 10% of current, possibly user-preference defined) would make this much more useful.
26 votes -
Calculate the bounds in Document Raster Effects Settings automatically
As for today, if you apply a Gaussian Blur or a Drop Shadow effect to a shape — with a large enough value — it often gets cropped.
A workaround exists — to go in Effect > Document Raster Effects Settings dialog and increase the 'Add' value, thus increasing the bounds of the image generated.
...but why is this still a problem that we, users, should take care of, really? Ai knows how large is the blur, it knows the resolution, yet it can’t calculate the tight bounds automatically. Like what, is there at least one user who’d like their blurs cropped? What’s a point of this in 2023?
As for today, if you apply a Gaussian Blur or a Drop Shadow effect to a shape — with a large enough value — it often gets cropped.
A workaround exists — to go in Effect > Document Raster Effects Settings dialog and increase the 'Add' value, thus increasing the bounds of the image generated.
...but why is this still a problem that we, users, should take care of, really? Ai knows how large is the blur, it knows the resolution, yet it can’t calculate the tight bounds automatically. Like what, is there at least one user who’d like their…
25 votes -
Create a guide trimmed to an artboard
There is a almost unknown way to create guides limited to an artboards — you have to pick the Artboard Tool first, and then drag a guide out of rulers. The resulting guide will be limited to the artboard’s dbounds.
However, we think about it somewhere in the middle of dragging a guide, using other tools... too late in a process!
Can we get a modifier to hold while a guides is dragged out to toggle the global/local guide mode on the fly? Alt is taken to switch horizontal/vertical (and it’s cool), but Shift and Ctrl/Cmd are free and do seemingly nothing.
There is a almost unknown way to create guides limited to an artboards — you have to pick the Artboard Tool first, and then drag a guide out of rulers. The resulting guide will be limited to the artboard’s dbounds.
However, we think about it somewhere in the middle of dragging a guide, using other tools... too late in a process!
Can we get a modifier to hold while a guides is dragged out to toggle the global/local guide mode on the fly? Alt is taken to switch horizontal/vertical (and it’s cool), but Shift and Ctrl/Cmd are free and do…
25 votes -
Allow to combine/merge selected text and path to Type on Path
In Ai on iPad we can select a text, hold a spot, and drag the text to a path, converting these to Type on Path. Easy!
To perform this in Ai for Desktop we have to cut the text, pick the proper tool, hold Alt (or use a subtool), click on path (very precisely), paste the text and then adjust the position (dragging tiny handles). Dated.
What we definitely need:
1. Ability to drag and drop a text on a path, using some modifier (Ctrl will do) to stick the text to the path
2. Have a command in Type > Type on Path, Convert to Type on Path
3. Have a command there also to Release Type on Path!There are also two related requests:
1. https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657-illustrator-desktop-feature-requests/suggestions/41707711-paste-symbols-along-a-path — Paste symbols along the path, which allows to use a buffer to quickly paste on a path
2. https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/333657-illustrator-desktop-feature-requests/suggestions/32189596-convert-to-type-on-a-path — Convert to Type on Path, that adds a generic arc to a text
Vote for these too, pleaseIn Ai on iPad we can select a text, hold a spot, and drag the text to a path, converting these to Type on Path. Easy!
To perform this in Ai for Desktop we have to cut the text, pick the proper tool, hold Alt (or use a subtool), click on path (very precisely), paste the text and then adjust the position (dragging tiny handles). Dated.
What we definitely need:
1. Ability to drag and drop a text on a path, using some modifier (Ctrl will do) to stick the text to the path
2. Have a command in Type…25 votes -
Batch apply action to selected items
It strikes me as absolutely bizarre that you can't apply an action to multiple objects in turn. You can batch apply actions to files. You can apply actions to selected objects. You can apply actions to a selected group of objects I think? But you can't batch apply actions to groups of objects. I have about 300 really short little lines in an infographic that I need to be the same length. They're fairly spread out and any anchor selection based approach would take 2 hours. What an incredible hassle.
25 votes -
Don't display clipped outside paths in Outline View option
Sometimes we have a large pieces of artwork clipped.
Sometimes we don’t care what’s inside until we isolate these to edit the clipped art directly.
Still, when we switch to Outline View, we see all the art that is clipped, clumped, overlapping, messy.
For these cases it would be nice to have an option to not draw parts that are outside and beyond of clipping paths.
Corel’s products does it a bit wrong — they don’t draw clipped parts in Outline at all, including parts that are inside. Ai should do it better.25 votes -
Exporting TIF with transparency
Unless I've gone completely mad, I could swear there used to be the option to Export a file to TIF with transparency (a checkbox in the export settings). This no longer appears as an option. How does one export a transparent TIF these days??
25 votes -
Infinite Canvas
I find myself using more and more Figma to brainstorm and create my designs as I have a single document containing all of my visual explorations.
For print assets I go back to Illustrator and create the final file, but I really wish I could have done it all in illustrator. So just removing the canvas limit.
Not artboards or number of something — just being able to spread and spread your ideas in the same place.25 votes -
Add dividers/separators to custom tools panel (or enable stacking/docking them vertically)
It would be nice to be able to visually separate tool groups in custom toolbars since there is no way to stack them vertically. Think "groups" in Microsoft Office apps' "ribbon". We can currently only...
A) Mash all of our tools into one toolbar, with no means of visual organization apart from the order in which they appear (I don't count stacking the tools as "visual organization", since I cannot see them).
B) Snap multiple toolbars together, but not while docked to edge of UI. They will not be movable together like this, and other UI elements can overlap them. Far from ideal.
C) Dock the toolbars together horizontally. This is a massively inefficient use of screen space.
Thanks!
P.S.: This is more of a peeve than anything, why do toolbars occupy all vertical space even when there are no tools there? We're going back to smaller screens now, with touch interfaces, so being able to utilize screen real estate is crucial.
Actually, someone submitted a request for this already titled "Unable to Resize Tool Panels (verticle axis)". It started to receive votes and the mods (groan) closed it since it was worded sort of like a bug report, and mistaken for one. Sorry, but this is why you don't outsource your online presence to non-native-English-speakers. It makes you a punchline.:
Aside: maybe separate the feature requests and bug reports? I would imagine this confusion has happened more than once.
It would be nice to be able to visually separate tool groups in custom toolbars since there is no way to stack them vertically. Think "groups" in Microsoft Office apps' "ribbon". We can currently only...
A) Mash all of our tools into one toolbar, with no means of visual organization apart from the order in which they appear (I don't count stacking the tools as "visual organization", since I cannot see them).
B) Snap multiple toolbars together, but not while docked to edge of UI. They will not be movable together like this, and other UI elements can overlap them.…
25 votes -
Keyboard shortcuts for all Pathfinder options (Unite, Divide, Trim, etc)
I work quickly and would like custom shortcuts for all the Pathfinder options.
25 votes -
Allow more than 5 swatches to be saved as a color theme/group
Please allow users to save more than 5 color swatches as a theme in Libraries. The number is very restrictive to our workflow.
25 votes -
Make an option to disable auto-selection of artboards, when clicked inside
AI now selects artboard whenever mouse is clicked within in (with any tool). While it's a great general behaviour, I'd like to be able to disable it.
I have to work with overlapping artboards (which, by the way, sometimes prevent AI from correctly selecting the artboard clicked—it depends on artboards' order). When object is copied, AI remembers it's coordinates. Then, when I go to the object I need to place my copied art over and press Ctrl+F, AI pastes the object in the same coordinates. Sounds OK, but when I clicked that underlying object, AI moved the focus from initial artboard to the one where said object is placed! So I often have to undo it and jiggle with false click to keep selection I want AND select proper artboard.
Since I don't have to always set the focus every artboard I click when I don't need it, I request an option to disable this autoselection.
AI now selects artboard whenever mouse is clicked within in (with any tool). While it's a great general behaviour, I'd like to be able to disable it.
I have to work with overlapping artboards (which, by the way, sometimes prevent AI from correctly selecting the artboard clicked—it depends on artboards' order). When object is copied, AI remembers it's coordinates. Then, when I go to the object I need to place my copied art over and press Ctrl+F, AI pastes the object in the same coordinates. Sounds OK, but when I clicked that underlying object, AI moved the focus from initial…
25 votes -
Insert a new artboard in a specific order position
I usually work with a lot of artboards around 100 per file.
I would like the possibility to enter the number of the position of the artboard!The problem consist when I have a lot or artboards and I create a new one it is the last in artboard panel. Then I need to drag it up to the preferred order position. If it needs to be in the third place I need a lot of scrolling up!
25 votes -
After AI crashes, list of Recent Files should be restored as it was BEFORE crash
AI crashes quite often. Every time I relaunch it, I see documents in 'File > Open Recent Files' that I opened long-long ago.
AI seems to save this list only after successful closing, which is RARE.Just make AI store list of recent documents elsewhere every time document is opened and restore it after crash.
25 votes
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