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Create documents

Create documents using a variety of presets and Adobe Stock templates for your specific design needs.

While creating a document in Illustrator, you can use one of the numerous presets instead of beginning with a blank canvas. You can also use one of the templates, including from Adobe Stock. Templates include assets and illustrations that you can build on to complete your project. When you open a template in Illustrator, you can work with it just as with any other Illustrator document.

Presets and templates

Blank Document Presets are blank documents with predefined dimensions and settings. Presets make designing for specific device form factors or use cases easier. For example, you can use a preset to quickly start designing for the iPad Pro. Blank document presets have predefined size, color, mode, unit, orientation, positioning, bleed, and resolution settings. You can modify these settings before creating a document using the preset.

Templates provide rich, inspirational, and reusable content for your documents. You can download templates from Adobe Stock that include quality graphics and illustrations right within Illustrator. You can then build on these templates to easily create documents that share common settings and design elements. Illustrator also provides blank templates with predefined dimensions and settings for common tasks, such as designing business cards or brochures. Templates open as .ai files in Illustrator and generally include multiple artboards.

Presets and templates are categorized into these sets:

  • Recent
  • Saved
  • Mobile
  • Web
  • Print
  • Branding
  • Social
  • Art & Illustration
  • Film & Video
  • Free Templates
Note:

With Illustrator 29.2.1, you get two new categories of document presets and templates, Branding and Social. After you update to Illustrator 29.2.1, it can take up to 72 hours for the new templates to load in these categories.

New Document dialog

To access the New Document dialog, open Illustrator and select New File.

Among other operations, the New Document dialog lets you:

  • Create documents using presets from one of the categories. You can modify the preset settings before opening them.
  • Create documents using Adobe Stock templates from one of the categories.
  • Search for more templates on Adobe Stock and create documents using them.
  • Quickly access files, templates, and items that you've recently accessed (Recents tab).
  • Quickly access templates downloaded from Adobe Stock (Saved tab).
Social category in the New Document dialog with presets and templates.
Select a preset or template from one of the categories.

Create documents using presets

  1. In the New Document dialog box, select a category tab: Recent, Saved, Mobile, Web, Print, Branding, SocialArt & Illustration, Film & Video, or Free Templates.

  2. Select a preset. Select View more in the upper-right corner of the dialog to see more presets.

  3. Select Create. Illustrator opens a new document based on the preset.

Note:

You can change the settings for the selected preset in the Preset Details pane.

Create and save custom document presets

Before opening a document using the preset, you can customize its settings in the Preset Details pane:

  1. Specify a name for the document.

  2. Specify the following options for the selected preset:

    Width and Height: Specify the size of the artboard. Select the unit from the pop-up menu.

    Orientation: Specify a page orientation for the document: Landscape or Portrait.

    Artboard: Specify the number of artboards in the document.

    Bleed: Specify the position of the bleed along each side of the artboard. Select   to use different values for different sides.

    Color Mode: Specify a color mode for the document: RGB or CMYK.

    Raster Effects: Specify the resolution for raster effects in the document.

    Preview Mode: Set the default preview mode for the document:

    • Default displays artwork created in the document in vector view with full color. Zoom in/out retains smoothness in the curves.
    • Pixel displays artwork with a rasterized (pixelated) appearance. It does not actually rasterize the content, but displays a simulated preview, as if the contents were rasters.
    • Overprint provides an “ink preview” that approximates how blending, transparency, and overprinting will appear in color-separated output.

    Use More settings to modify the preset further.

    Note:

    You can change the Preview Mode at any time using the View menu.

  3. Select   and then select Save Preset for future use.

  4. Select Create to open a document with the preset settings.

You can access the saved preset anytime from the Saved category tab in the New Document window.

Create documents using templates from Adobe Stock

Illustrator comes with a variety of templates from Adobe Stock, including templates for tablet illustrations, mobile illustrations, laptop illustrations, letterheads, envelopes, business cards, and many more. Templates with font layers use basic fonts or fonts that can be synced from Adobe Typekit.

To create a document using a template, follow these steps:

  1. In the New Document dialog box, select a category tab: Recent, Saved, Mobile, Web, Print, Branding, SocialArt & Illustration, Film & Video, or Free Templates.

  2. Select a template.

  3. Select See Preview to view a preview of the template. A preview is an image representation of a template that you can review and decide if you want to license.

  4. Select Download.

    Illustrator prompts you to license the template from Adobe Stock. For more information about licensing and related considerations, see Adobe Stock Help. After the template has been licensed using asset entitlements or credits in your account, you can open it as an Illustrator document (.ai) for you to work on.

    License the template
    Template licensing in progress

  5. Once the template is downloaded, select Open. While you open the template if you're prompted to sync some fonts from Typekit, select OK.

You can now work with the open document in Illustrator just as you would work with any other .ai document. Downloaded templates are added to a Creative Cloud library called Stock Templates. You can access this library in the Libraries panel.

Note:

Illustrator templates carry the .ait filename extension. However, when you open a template, an instance of it is opened as a document with the .ai extension. Changes made to that .ai document don't affect the original .ait template.

Search for more templates from Adobe Stock

In addition to the preselected templates from Adobe Stock, you can search for and download numerous other templates directly from within the New Document dialog.

While working in the New Document dialog, enter a search string in the Find More Templates On Adobe Stock box. Alternatively, select Go to browse the full selection of available templates.

Illustrator opens the Adobe Stock website in a new browser window for you to explore. License and download the one that best meets your project requirements.

Create documents using blank templates

Blank templates make designing common deliverables, such as brochures, business cards, CD covers, and T-shirts, easier. Do the following to create a document using a blank template:

  1. Select File > New From Template.

  2. In the New From Template dialog, open the Blank Templates folder.

  3. Select a template and select New.
    Illustrator creates a new document based on the selected blank template. You can work with it just as you would work with any other .ai document.

Use the legacy File New experience

If necessary, you may disable the latest New Document experience and revert to the experience that Illustrator provided by default in versions CC 2015.3 and earlier.

  1. Select Edit > Preferences > General.

  2. Choose Use Legacy File New Interface and select OK.

Preferences dialog to use the legacy file new experience
Enable the legacy experience (not recommended)

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