Creative Cloud Libraries in Illustrator

A Creative Cloud Library is a collection of design assets you can reuse and share across projects and apps. In Illustrator, you can store colors, color themes, character styles, graphics, and text as library assets.

Why use Creative Cloud Libraries

• Keep every linked asset updated everywhere automatically through Adobe CreativeSync
• Access your libraries from Creative Cloud desktop and mobile apps, even offline
• Share libraries and collaborate with other Creative Cloud subscribers
• License and use Adobe Stock images directly from the Libraries panel
• Organize assets into libraries that match your workflows and projects
• Save assets to a library directly from Photoshop, InDesign, Premiere Pro, and other Creative Cloud apps

Linked and unlinked assets

When you drag an asset from the Libraries panel into a document, Illustrator creates either a linked or an unlinked copy of it.

By default, dragged assets become linked assets. Editing the original asset in the library updates every linked copy across your documents, so you always work with the current version.

To bring an asset into view without linking it, hold Alt (Windows) or Option (macOS) while you drag it from the panel.

Libraries panel overview

The Libraries panel lists your Creative Cloud Libraries and their assets. Libraries you create are available in the panel on any computer where you're signed in with the same Adobe ID, and inside other Creative Cloud desktop apps like Photoshop and InDesign.

• Library selector: The library is currently open in the panel.
• Invite to library: Opens sharing options so you can invite other users to collaborate on the library.
• Panel menu: Opens the flyout menu for creating, renaming, and deleting libraries and assets.
• Search field: Finds an asset by name within the open library.
• All up to date: Confirms that every asset in the library is synced to its latest version.

Asset types

• Colors: A single-color swatch. Hover over a color asset to see its name and hexadecimal value.
• Color Themes: A saved group of up to five colors, created from a Color Group in the Swatches panel.
• Character Styles: More than 50 text attributes, such as font, size, and spacing, saved as a single reusable style.
• Graphics: Artwork stored in vector form, so it stays fully editable wherever you reuse it.
• Text: A range of text or a text frame, stored with its character and paragraph styles. Text assets are also available in the Libraries panel in Adobe InDesign.