Note: Sync Settings has been removed in Illustrator CC versions 2015 and later. The existing service in Illustrator CC and CC 2014 will become unavailable in the near future.
Illustrator stores application-related settings on your local computer. The Sync Settings feature preserves a copy of these settings on Adobe Creative Cloud. If you activate Illustrator on another computer, you can choose to synchronize the settings from Creative Cloud with the newly-activated computer.
Note:
At any given time, you can activate Illustrator on two computers only.
In essence, if you are using the same Adobe ID and running Illustrator CC on two computers, you can synchronize settings between both computers to have the same working settings and environment on both computers.
The Sync Settings feature addresses two basic user scenarios:
- Single computer. You have one computer, and would like to maintain a back-up of Illustrator's current application settings. If you replace your computer with a new computer, you can sync the settings available in Creative Cloud with the new computer.
- Multiple computers. You have multiple computers, and need to have the same working settings on any computer you activate Illustrator on.
Note:
At any given time, you can activate Illustrator on two computers only.
When you synchronize Illustrator's settings, Creative Cloud is used to upload, store, or download any information. The Sync Settings feature requires:
- An Internet connection
- An Adobe Creative Cloud subscription or a single-app subscription
No. The Sync Settings feature is manually initiated. The feature cannot be scheduled or triggered automatically.
Synchronization of settings happens as often as you click Sync Settings Now.
- [Recommended] Click the
icon at the lower-left corner of the Illustrator document window, and then click Sync Settings Now.
- Click Edit (Mac: Illustrator) > {AdobeID logged in} > Sync Settings Now.
- Click Ctrl/Cmd + K > Sync Settings tab > click Sync Settings Now. When you use this method, the latest settings are uploaded or downloaded. No changes are applied.
Note:
The recommended method to use the Sync Settings feature is to click the icon at the lower-left corner of an Illustrator document window., and then clicking Sync Settings Now.
When you run Illustrator for the first time on a computer on which Sync Settings has never been used, on opening a document you are asked to choose if you want to enable Sync Settings.


- Click Sync Settings Now, to upload/download settings with Creative Cloud for the first time.
- Click Disable Sync Settings, to disable the feature.
- Click Advanced, to open the Preferences dialog, where you can choose and customize what items are synchronized.
Note:
You can modify any of these setting by clicking Edit (Mac: Illustrator) > Preferences > Sync Settings tab.
-
The Sync Settings feature checks for the latest information on your computer and Creative Cloud, and provides you with one of the following dialogs.
Choose an appropriate action for your computer.
Sync Settings Popup Dialog What this means Action Two possibilities:
- Illustrator on the computer that you are using is synchronised with Creative Cloud.
- Settings have been uploaded / no settings are downloaded
No action necessary.
The most recent settings have been downloaded. Uploadable settings, if any, have been added to Creative Cloud. Click Apply Now to ensure that settings are synchronized. The most recent settings are different on your current computer, Creative Cloud, and the other computer that is synchronized. See the section on Resolving Sync Settings conflicts. The most recent settings have been downloaded. However, applying the settings will require Illustrator to be restarted to implement the changes. If you want the settings to be current, click Restart Now. However, if you must complete other tasks first, you can click Later.

Synchronization conflicts occur when the system is unable to determine whether you want a setting from Creative Cloud or from your local computer to be retained, since both have been changed after the last sync operation.
Consider the following scenario. You modify Illustrator Preferences on your work computer, and synchronize the settings. Thereafter, you modify Illustrator Preferences on your home computer. You now have two sets of modified preferences - one new set in Creative Cloud (synced from your work computer), and a newer set on your home computer. If you attempt to synchronize settings now, you will be prompted to choose from which settings you want to keep.

- Sync Local: Sync local settings on this computer to the cloud; overwrite the cloud version with the local version of settings.
- Sync Cloud: Sync from the cloud to this local computer; ignore changes made to the local settings and replace them with the settings in the cloud.
- Keep Latest File: Keep the latest settings based on the timestamp.
Only those settings are synchronized that are loaded or used in Illustrator. If you copy a new set of swatches or brushes to installation/settings folders for Illustrator using Explorer or Finder, these assets are not synced. To ensure that such items are synchronized successfully, they must be loaded and saved in Illustrator, once.
For example, if you want to synchronize a new Brush Library, select the brushes from the Brushes panel, save them as a Brush Library from the fly-out menu at the default location.
# | Type of Asset |
Asset |
*Restart Required |
1 | Library | Graphic Styles |
No |
2 | Library |
Swatches | No |
3 | Library | Brushes | No |
4 | Library | Symbols | No |
5 | Presets | Transparency Flattener | No |
6 | Presets | No | |
7 | Presets | No | |
8 | Presets | SWF | No |
9 | Presets | Perspective Grid |
No |
10 | Presets | Image Trace | No |
11 | Presets | Color Settings | Yes |
12 | Presets | Variable Width Profiles | No |
13 | Workspaces | Yes | |
14 | Keyboard Shortcuts** |
No | |
15 | Preferences | Preferences Dialog | Yes |
16 | Preferences | Document Profiles | No |
17 | Preferences | User Dictionaries | Yes |
18 | Asian Settings | Mojikumi | No |
19 | Asian Settings | Kinsoku | No |
20 | Asian Settings | Composite fonts | Yes |