Illustrator (Desktop) Feature Requests
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- Description
- Why is this valuable to you?
4856 results found
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Make incrementation looped in angle value fields for Move, Rotate and other dialogs
Problem Description:
AI can do math in fields and that is awesome.
But I always swear a little when I use angle fields.For example:
1. Move an art with Move dialogue at 10mm and 360 degrees
2. Select another object and invoke dialogue again
3. Type in '+30' in angle, so it would become '360+30'
4. Press Tab or EnterActual Result:
AI says DING (or whatever sound is set for it in your OS) and does nothingExpected Result:
AI should turn this typed value into '30', that is make one revolution and don't bother me, as a…23 votes -
Better handling huge images in clipboard
When I cut huge images, AI literally puts them in clipboard and it takes minutes to complete and sometimes crashes AI.
But I usually do this only to immediately paste them in front/back of other objects, to make desired order.
AI don't have commands in Layers palette like 'Move in front/back of selected objects', so this is almost the only way to achieve this.
Dragging selected objects (including images) within Layers palette is very incovinient, because I don't know exactly where targeted object is located there (but I can clearly see it on page).
I also can cut image from…23 votes -
Barcode
Dear Adobe,
hope you doing well, could you please one more option in illustrator for Barcode generator
Thank you
23 votes -
Reveal in Finder (for MacOS) / Explorer (for Windows) option for document tabs, like in Photoshop, Acrobat
On Macs, "Reveal in Finder" Option currently reveals in Finder you "Command + click" the file name at top of window — however this option is not available when window is tied to the application frame.
Completely missing in Illustrator for Windows (even though exists in Photoshop and Acrobat).
23 votes -
Grid or Guides Calculator
Have a make grid or guides feature with a grid calculator that was artboard dependant.
- as in I could have different grids on different artboards
- proportional grids
- vertical grids and guides as well as horizontal
The amount of time I take having to set up grids, by drawing boxes and dragging in guides, to do my layout is enormous.
It is such a fundamental part of graphic design, I feel like it should really be embedded in illustrator. I have noticed that the new Photoshop has it. Also indesign has it. But really i need it more in illustrator.
(…
23 votes -
Enable Gradient Annotator on strokes
When we are in Full screen and Want to edit Gradient on the Stroke It would be Great to be able to Enable the Annotator on to Change/Edit or move the stroke Gradient colors
23 votes -
Improve Trim Mark Settings When Exporting PDFs
Posted using Illustrator 2025 (29.4)
In the Japanese printing industry, it is common practice to require both corner crop marks and center crop marks when exporting PDFs.
Currently, in Illustrator’s PDF export settings, enabling the “Trim Marks” option only adds corner marks. To include center crop marks, users must also check the “Registration Marks” option, which results in registration marks being added as well.
However, these registration marks are generally disliked and considered unnecessary in Japanese print workflows. There needs to be an option to add only corner and center crop marks without registration marks.
InDesign allows users to…
22 votes -
An option to ignore strokes when using Fit to Artwork Bounds or Fit to Selected Art commands
Illustrator now always fits the current artboard respecting strokes and raster effects, as if the 'Use Preview Bounds' option is on.
However, disabling this option does not change the behaviour 'Fit to Artwork Bounds' or 'Fit to Selected Art' commands — strokes and shadows are still considered to be the bounds to fit.
This is not what a user wants in many cases, and geometric bounds are preferred instead.
We need Illustrator to either respect 'Use Preview Bounds' option — as Symbols do — or have another set of option for fitting command, to separately control strokes and effects.22 votes -
Edit a Brush like a Symbol, on canvas
To edit a brush stroke, we have to do the following:
1. Edit the panel
2. Grad the brush and drag it onto the canvas
3. Edit
4. Alt+drag it over the original brush
5. Think about applying changes to existing art if the brush is already usedMeanwhile, editing a symbol looks like this:
1. Double-click a symbol
2. Pass the warning (or disable it once)
3. Edit a symbol
4. Double-click on the canvas or hit Escape to finishLooks like almost the same length... but clicking is faster than dragging and aiming. Why no use the same…
22 votes -
Touch Type improvements
Touch Type is a nice tool that is still unfinished.
- Can’t select several glyphs at once (not by Shift+clicking, not with a marquee)
- Can’t constrain rotations to 45° by holding Shift
- Can’t constrain movements to axes by holding Shift
- Can’t select a glyph when it’s even partially obscured by another one next to it
- Can’t reset selection to original states via on-screen controls
- Snap to Glyphs obviously doesn’t work with it (imagine if it would have)
- There is no way to apply changes to one glyph without shifting all glyphs to the right…22 votes -
Ctrl+click the swatch to mix it with the current color
There is a small thing in Corel Draw, that AI could benefit of too.
If you have an object selected and click in a different swatch with a Ctrl held, it adds a bit of clicked color to your current one, blending them.Like if you have a yellow CMYK 0-0-100-0 and Ctrl+click in 0-100-0-0 magenta swatch, you will have 0-10-90-0, 0-19-81-0, 0-27-73-0, getting more like the clicked swatch with each click. Same in EGB Very convenient for adding color reflexes and picking a color in general.
22 votes -
Improve Shape Builder by adapting the Corel’s Smart Fill functionality (Paint Bucket)
Whoever came up with the idea of the Shape Builder, they did utilize not that popular Live Paint in a great way. Make it even better!
Steal and add to Ai the Smart Fill from Corel Draw (see the GIF attached). You don’t have to create a live paint, you just click over the intersection, just like Shape Builder does, and you have your new shape over the original paths. Steal it and make it better — CorelDraw doesn’t understand click and drag here, and it’s less comfortable to set a color (while Ai won’t have any problem here). Like…22 votes -
Escape key should deselect any selected object
This would be extremely useful when you are zoomed in and a lot of objects are filled in your screen and there's no empty space around to click if you ever wanna deselect an object. Please map the escape key so that it deselects any selected object.
22 votes -
Break apart blocks of text into separate text objects: by lines, words, characters, outlines
As done in Flash, I need to be able to paste in a block of text and "break apart" the single text object to several separate text objects. Ideally each time I click break apart, the action will break the text down further: by lines, then words, then characters, then to outlines. This action should be assigned a shortcut to quickly cut up text that has been pasted in from outside Illustrator.
I spend a lot of time pasting in label text for infographics and diagrams, and then cutting and pasting repeatedly to separate the labels out for positioning.
22 votes -
Effects Preview Checkbox Has No Effect After First Check
Version 24.0 (64-bit)
When applying an effect to a path in Illustrator, checking the "Preview" checkbox will preview that effect, but unchecking the box does not return the path back to its original shape. To test:
Use the pen tool to draw a multi-segment shape.
Select the shape
Click Effect->Distort & Transform->Roughen
Click the Preview checkbox (the effect should be applied)
Click the Preview checkbox again (the effect will not be removed)I've tested this with most of the previewable effects in the Effects menu and they all behave the same.
22 votes -
Import PDF comments in Illustrator
The option to import PDF comments in InDesign is a great feature.
Adding this feature to Illustrator would be a great solution for people working in the packaging world.22 votes -
Keyboard shortcut to fit artboard to selection
Currently you must have content selected to fit it to art board in focus. This workflow adds extra interaction cost by having to remember to first select before hitting the drop-down menu to fit it. Selecting the content and art board and striking a key command would make this a lot more efficient.
22 votesIllustrator has two commands to fit artboards.
One of them, 'Fit to Selected Art', requires a selection — obviously.
The other one, 'Fit to Artwork Bounds' — does not, but works for the entire artwork.
You can insert the one that you need in an action, using the 'Insert menu item...' command from the Actions panel’s flyout menu, and assign a hotkey to the action.
However, I believe the request is not about a hotkey, but a way to let Illustrator to 'Fit to the contents of artboard' command? Please comment back to make it clear.
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Allow freeform gradient points to leave boundaries
In the freeform gradient tool if points are dragged outside of the boundaries it deletes the point. Instead I think it would be better if the points worked outside boundaries to allow for smoother gradients.
See example on how a freeform gradient would appear if points could used outside of the borders (you can currently do it by using a clipping mask but it would be easier if it was built into the tool)
22 votes -
Allow transitions between freeform gradients control points to be linear
Originally named 'Freeform gradient shows RGB values when you work in CMYK space' and based on this message:
https://twitter.com/Vonster/status/1056247934855991298?s=1922 votes -
Make AI remember active layer and reselect it when file is opened
I have some templates, where working layer is not topmost (others are locked and/or hidden).
But AI always set focus on the topmost one when file is loaded. So when I or other people try to edit freshly opened/created file, they have have a message about lock/visibility.
Please make AI remember what layer is active when file is saved.22 votes
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