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Illustrator on the iPad workspace

Take a quick tour of the Illustrator on the iPad workspace and learn where your favorite tools and features are available.

Try out the latest features and enhancements.

Get started with Home screen

Illustrator workspace on the iPad is simple and intuitive so that you can focus on your creative work. Home screen is the first window that appears when you launch Illustrator on the iPad and a gateway to your document workspace. See the table below to learn what all you can do in the Home screen.

Home screen

Files

View a list of all the documents that you can open in Illustrator: 

  • Tap Your files tab to open and work with Illustrator cloud documents.
  • Tap Shared with you to view or open and work with files shared with you by others.
  • Tap Deleted to view the list of all deleted documents. You can choose to restore the documents or permanently delete them. In case you accidentally delete a file, you can restore them easily.

Learn 

Tap to view the interactive app tour, tutorials, and videos to explore and understand the unique workflows and features of Illustrator on the iPad.

The content is tailored based on your Creative Cloud membership plan and your familiarity with the Illustrator app.

Discover

Tap to watch the livestreams from famous creatives from within Illustrator. View the magnificent work done by the Illustrator design community and get inspired! 

Create New

Tap to create a new document on the iPad. By default, all the documents you create using Illustrator on the iPad are saved as cloud documents and get autosaved at regular intervals. No  loss of unsaved work!

Import and open

Tap to quickly open existing Illustrator documents or documents from different apps (Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Fresco) in Illustrator on the iPad. 

Recent

Tap to access all the documents you worked on recently. 

What's coming to Illustrator

Tap to view the list of features we're working on. You can also suggest features that you'd like to see in Illustrator. We value your suggestions and feedback.

App settings 

Tap to manage the app settings (preferences) for Illustrator on the iPad. To learn more, see  see Manage your app settings.

Cloud sync errors 

Tap to check whether you're online or offline, and the save status of your cloud documents.

Home

Tap to return to the default Home screen anytime.

Know your document workspace

After you open a document, you enter into the document or edit workspace where you can work on your creative designs. This workspace is self intuitive and display on-canvas controls only when you need them.

Illustrator on iPad

A. Navigation bar B. Toolbar C. Touch shortcut D. Task bar 

Navigation bar on the top





A. Undo Tap to cancel the most recent action made to the document.
B. Redo Tap to restore the actions that you canceled using the Undo operation.
C. Publish and export Tap to choose a format in which you want to publish or export the documents. For your ease, a quick list of most frequently used formats (.ai, png) is also provided. In addition, you can also choose to livestream your work using the Start livestream option.
D. Help Tap to view the Help information, touch gestures, and keyboard shortcuts.
E. App settings Tap to manage the app settings or preferences.
F. View mode Tap to set the view mode as preview (default) or outlines.

Toolbar on the left

A. Selection Tap to use the Selection tool to select an object.
B. Path Tap to use the Path tool to add, delete, or modify anchor points to change the path shape. 
C. Pen Tap to select the Pen tool to create paths.
D. Pencil  Tap to select the Pencil, Paint Brush or Blob Brush tool. You can increase the smoothness of the Pencil using the slider displayed at the bottom of the toolbar. 
E. Eraser Tap to use the Eraser tool. Set the eraser smoothness using the slider povided at the botton of the toolbar.
F. Shape Tap to draw a shape: Rectangle (default), Circle, Triangle, Star, and Line.
G. Text Tap to add text in horizontal or vertical directions and perform text-related operations.
H. Artboard  Tap to select the Artboard tool and perform artboard operations. You can also choose an artboard preset to create a new artboard.
I. Import  Tap to capture a picture using iPad's camera and place directly into Illustrator. In addition, choose to import an image from your photos, files, Creative Cloud libraries, or directly import a cloud document from Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Fresco. See also: Import a document.
J. Color Tap to set a solid color or a gradient for the selected object. Choose a color from the Color wheel, Color dropper, Swatches (color books).

 To view the options for a tool, double-tap or long-press the tool icon. All tools do not have tool options.

Taskbar on the right

A. Layers Tap to view and manage layers.
B. Properties Tap to view the Properties panel for the selected object.
C. Precision
  • Select the Snap to grid or Smart guides checkbox to set the grid color and spacing.
  • Rulers: Enable Rulers to measure and place design elements.
  • Guides: Enable Guides to align text and graphic objects on the artboard. 
    • Drag from the ruler to create guides on the artboard.
    • Color: Select and add a color to your guide.
    • Add guide: Create horizontal or vertical guides and drag the guide to place it on a specific location.
    • All guides: By default, guides are unlocked so that you can move, modify, or delete. Tap to lock all the guides on the artboard. See below for tips.
D. Combine shape Tap to create or edit the shape using Combine shape panel (Combine all, Minus front, Intersect, Exclude overlap), Shape Buidler, Divide all, and Convert to path.
E. Edit appearance Tap to copy and paste appearance of the objects.
F. Align and distribute Tap to align, distribute, and flip objects.
G. Object Tap to Expand, Group, Make clipping mask, Create stroke outline, Convert to guide, Make compound path.
H. Type Tap to style your text using the Outline text, Type on path, and Edit path options.
I. Path Tap to create or edit paths using the following options: Cut path, Convert to corner, Convert to curve, Join path, Simplify path, Smart Delete, Delete.
J. Repeat Tap to create a pattern using the Radial Repeat, Grid Repeat, Mirror Repeat options. For details, see Repeat artwork.


  • When you select a guide, a widget with controls display on the canvas. Use the controls to move, copy, or delete the guide.
  • Slide the outer edge of the touch shortcut icon and hold. Drag to select the guides and objects.

Touch shortcut

Use the touch shortcut to quickly access alternate actions of a selected tool in Illustrator on the iPad.

To learn how to use primary and secondary touch shortcuts, see Touch shortcuts and gestures.

Touch shortcuts for Brush tool
Left: Primary touch modifier. Right: Secondary touch modifier.

Context menu widget

When you select an object, a context-sensitive widget for the selected object is displayed on the canvas. You can use the options in this widget to quickly perform actions directly through the canvas.

contextual widget

Above is an example of on-canvas contextual widget that appears when you select the Pen tool and then select the path object. It includes options to edit or delete paths.


Related topics

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