User Guide Cancel

Illustrator on the iPad workspace

Search
  1. Illustrator User Guide
  2. Get to know Illustrator
    1. Introduction to Illustrator
      1. What's new in Illustrator
      2. Common questions
      3. Illustrator system requirements
      4. Illustrator for Apple silicon
    2. Workspace
      1. Workspace basics
      2. Learn faster with the Illustrator Discover panel
      3. Create documents
      4. Toolbar
      5. Default keyboard shortcuts
      6. Customize keyboard shortcuts
      7. Introduction to artboards
      8. Manage artboards
      9. Customize the workspace
      10. Properties panel
      11. Set preferences
      12. Touch Workspace
      13. Microsoft Surface Dial support in Illustrator
      14. Undo edits and manage design history
      15. Rotate view
      16. Rulers, grids, and guides
      17. Accessibility in Illustrator
      18. Safe Mode
      19. View artwork
      20. Use the Touch Bar with Illustrator
      21. Files and templates
    3. Tools in Illustrator
      1. Tools at a glance
      2. Select tools
        1. Selection
        2. Direct Selection
        3. Group Selection
        4. Magic Wand
        5. Lasso
        6. Artboard
      3. Navigate tools
        1. Hand
        2. Rotate View
        3. Zoom
      4. Paint tools
        1. Gradient
        2. Mesh
        3. Shape Builder
      5. Text tools
        1. Type
        2. Type on a Path
        3. Vertical Type
      6. Draw tools
        1. Pen
        2. Add Anchor Point
        3. Delete Anchor Point
        4. Anchor Point
        5. Curvature
        6. Line Segment
        7. Rectangle
        8. Rounded Rectangle
        9. Ellipse
        10. Polygon
        11. Star
        12. Paintbrush
        13. Blob Brush
        14. Pencil
        15. Shaper
        16. Slice
      7. Modify tools
        1. Rotate
        2. Reflect
        3. Scale
        4. Shear
        5. Width
        6. Free Transform
        7. Eyedropper
        8. Blend
        9. Eraser
        10. Scissors
    4. Quick actions
      1. Retro text
      2. Neon glow text
      3. Old school text
      4. Recolor
      5. Convert sketch to vector
  3. Illustrator on the iPad
    1. Introduction to Illustrator on the iPad
      1. Illustrator on the iPad overview
      2. Illustrator on the iPad FAQs
      3. System requirements | Illustrator on the iPad
      4. What you can or cannot do on Illustrator on the iPad
    2. Workspace
      1. Illustrator on the iPad workspace
      2. Touch shortcuts and gestures
      3. Keyboard shortcuts for Illustrator on the iPad
      4. Manage your app settings
    3. Documents
      1. Work with documents in Illustrator on the iPad
      2. Import Photoshop and Fresco documents
    4. Select and arrange objects
      1. Create repeat objects
      2. Blend objects
    5. Drawing
      1. Draw and edit paths
      2. Draw and edit shapes
    6. Type
      1. Work with type and fonts
      2. Create text designs along a path
      3. Add your own fonts
    7. Work with images
      1. Vectorize raster images
    8. Color
      1. Apply colors and gradients
  4. Cloud documents
    1. Basics
      1. Work with Illustrator cloud documents
      2. Share and collaborate on Illustrator cloud documents
      3. Share documents for review
      4. Upgrade cloud storage for Adobe Illustrator
      5. Illustrator cloud documents | Common questions
    2. Troubleshooting
      1. Troubleshoot create or save issues for Illustrator cloud documents
      2. Troubleshoot Illustrator cloud documents issues
  5. Add and edit content
    1. Drawing
      1. Drawing basics
      2. Edit paths
      3. Draw pixel-perfect art
      4. Draw with the Pen, Curvature, or Pencil tool
      5. Draw simple lines and shapes
      6. Image Trace
      7. Simplify a path
      8. Define perspective grids
      9. Symbolism tools and symbol sets
      10. Adjust path segments
      11. Design a flower in 5 easy steps
      12. Perspective drawing
      13. Symbols
      14. Draw pixel-aligned paths for web workflows
    2. 3D objects and materials
      1. About 3D effects in Illustrator
      2. Create 3D graphics
      3. Map artwork over 3D objects
      4. Create 3D Text
      5. Create 3D objects
    3. Color
      1. About color
      2. Select colors
      3. Use and create swatches
      4. Adjust colors
      5. Use the Adobe Color Themes panel
      6. Color groups (harmonies)
      7. Color Themes panel
      8. Recolor your artwork
    4. Painting
      1. About painting
      2. Paint with fills and strokes
      3. Live Paint groups
      4. Gradients
      5. Brushes
      6. Transparency and blending modes
      7. Apply stroke on an object
      8. Create and edit patterns
      9. Meshes
      10. Patterns
    5. Select and arrange objects
      1. Select objects
      2. Layers
      3. Group and expand objects
      4. Move, align, and distribute objects
      5. Stack objects    
      6. Lock, hide, and delete objects
      7. Copy and duplicate objects
      8. Rotate and reflect objects
      9. Intertwine objects
    6. Reshape objects
      1. Crop images
      2. Transform objects
      3. Combine objects
      4. Cut, divide, and trim objects
      5. Puppet Warp
      6. Scale, shear, and distort objects
      7. Blend objects
      8. Reshape using envelopes
      9. Reshape objects with effects
      10. Build new shapes with Shaper and Shape Builder tools
      11. Work with Live Corners
      12. Enhanced reshape workflows with touch support
      13. Edit clipping masks
      14. Live shapes
      15. Create shapes using the Shape Builder tool
      16. Global editing
    7. Type
      1. Add text and work with type objects
      2. Create bulleted and numbered lists
      3. Manage text area
      4. Fonts and typography
      5. Identify and use fonts from images and outlined text
      6. Format type
      7. Import and export text
      8. Format paragraphs
      9. Special characters
      10. Create type on a path
      11. Character and paragraph styles
      12. Tabs
      13. Find missing fonts (Typekit workflow)
      14. Arabic and Hebrew type
      15. Fonts | FAQ and troubleshooting tips
      16. Create 3D text effect
      17. Creative typography designs
      18. Scale and rotate type
      19. Line and character spacing
      20. Hyphenation and line breaks
      21. Spelling and language dictionaries
      22. Format Asian characters
      23. Composers for Asian scripts
      24. Create text designs with blend objects
      25. Create a text poster using Image Trace
    8. Create special effects
      1. Work with effects
      2. Graphic styles
      3. Appearance attributes
      4. Create sketches and mosaics
      5. Drop shadows, glows, and feathering
      6. Summary of effects
    9. Web graphics
      1. Best practices for creating web graphics
      2. Graphs
      3. SVG
      4. Slices and image maps
  6. Import, export, and save
    1. Import
      1. Place multiple files
      2. Manage linked and embedded files
      3. Links information
      4. Unembed images
      5. Import artwork from Photoshop
      6. Import bitmap images
      7. Import Adobe PDF files
      8. Import EPS, DCS, and AutoCAD files
    2. Creative Cloud Libraries in Illustrator 
      1. Creative Cloud Libraries in Illustrator
    3. Save
      1. Save artwork
    4. Export
      1. Use Illustrator artwork in Photoshop
      2. Export artwork
      3. Collect assets and export in batches
      4. Package files
      5. Create Adobe PDF files
      6. Extract CSS | Illustrator CC
      7. Adobe PDF options
      8. Document info panel
  7. Printing
    1. Prepare for printing
      1. Set up documents for printing
      2. Change the page size and orientation
      3. Specify crop marks for trimming or aligning
      4. Get started with large canvas
    2. Printing
      1. Overprint
      2. Print with color management
      3. PostScript printing
      4. Print presets
      5. Printer's marks and bleeds
      6. Print and save transparent artwork
      7. Trapping
      8. Print color separations
      9. Print gradients, meshes, and color blends
      10. White Overprint
  8. Automate tasks
    1. Data merge using the Variables panel
    2. Automation with scripts
    3. Automation with actions
  9. Troubleshooting 
    1. Crash issues
    2. Recover files after crash
    3. File issues
    4. Supported file formats
    5. GPU device driver issues
    6. Wacom device issues
    7. DLL file issues
    8. Memory issues
    9. Preferences file issues
    10. Font issues
    11. Printer issues
    12. Share crash report with Adobe
    13. Improve Illustrator performance

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

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 





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, and Star.
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 shortcut. Right: Secondary touch shortcut.

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

Watch this 5-minute video to get a feel for Illustrator on the iPad workspace, tools, and features.

Tour the reimagined Illustrator workspace on the iPad. Learn the differences between desktop Illustrator and iPad and see what is new for Illustrator users.

Got a question or an idea?

Ask the Community

If you have a question to ask or an idea to share, come and participate in the Adobe Illustrator Community. We'd love to hear from you.

Adobe logo

Sign in to your account

Quick links

View all your plans Manage your plans

Legal Notices    |    Online Privacy Policy