Illustrator cloud documents | Common questions

Find answers to some common questions you may have about Illustrator cloud documents.

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FAQs | Cloud documents overview

Illustrator cloud documents are Adobe's cloud-native document file type that can be accessed online or offline directly from within the Illustrator application. These cloud documents can be accessed across devices while your edits are automatically saved on the cloud. To learn more about cloud documents, see What are cloud documents.

What are the benefits of cloud documents?

Access files on the go

Autosave

Asset share

Here are some benefits of using Illustrator cloud documents:

  • Access all your work: Save your creative work as a cloud document and access it on all the devices where you have Illustrator installed. It's in the cloud wherever you work.
  • Reliability:  Save your project as a cloud document so that you never have to worry about losing your work as it gets auto-saved on the cloud.
  • Track version history: Easily view any version of your cloud document from within the app. Autosave keeps your document up-to-date and makes past versions available at hand.
  • Quality: Cloud documents store every layer at full fidelity. 

See also: Benefits of cloud documents.

What is the difference between cloud documents and Creative Cloud Files?

Your Creative Cloud plan includes different types of cloud storage—cloud documents, libraries, and Creative Cloud files (synced files). These have different uses and benefits.

  • Cloud documents and Creative Cloud Files are stored in different locations within your Creative Cloud account. 
  • Unlike cloud documents, Illustrator Creative Cloud files are not native to the cloud, and therefore do not have the same capabilities as cloud documents.

For more information, see Difference between cloud documents and Creative Cloud files.

Can I access cloud documents from Creative Cloud Libraries?

Cloud documents can be accessed from within the Illustrator app and from on the web at assets.adobe.com, but not from Creative Cloud Libraries.

Are cloud documents supported on Windows 7?

No, cloud documents are not supported on Windows 7. To find the complete list of supported OS versions, see Minimum system requirements for Illustrator.

FAQs | Cloud document workflows

How do I access Illustrator cloud documents?

You can access your  Illustrator cloud documents from:

  • IllustratorCloud documents tab in the Illustrator home screen.
  • assets.adobe.com (web): Navigate to Creative Cloud > Files > Your work > Cloud documents.

To learn more about accessing your cloud documents, see Access Illustrator cloud documents.

Access cloud docs

How do I choose between saving cloud documents and local documents?

You can always choose between saving your Illustrator documents to the cloud or locally. Illustrator remembers how you saved or opened your most recently accessed document and will continue to present you with the same experience until you choose otherwise. 

For more details, see Create or save cloud documents.

How do I save my cloud documents as local files?

Illustrator enables you to save your Illustrator document as a local file. 

To learn more about the saving your documents, see Make cloud documents available offline.

save as local

How do I save my existing .ai documents as cloud documents?

To make your files accessible across your devices, you can convert  your .ai file to a cloud document and save it to the cloud. To do so, open Illustrator and select File  >  Save as  >  Save Adobe Cloud document

To learn more about the saving and working with your documents, see Create or save cloud documents.

Across devices

Can I bank upon autosave if my cloud documents are not manually saved for some reason?

Autosave feature is your savior! Even if you close the Illustrator cloud document without saving it manually, the autosave feature makes sure that your latest updates are automatically saved and synced onto the cloud. Similarly, if you work on multiple documents at the same time, all your updates get autosaved when you switch between the documents.

However, autosaving a large-scale document takes time and might have performance trade-offs, so the autosave feature is currently disabled for large-scaled documents.

How do I edit a cloud document on multiple devices?

Access cloud docs

You can open a document simultaneously on multiple devices using the same Adobe ID. However, if you edit and save the document on one device, and then try to edit and save the open document on the second device, there will be a document conflict.

If you have shared your document with a stakeholder, you and your stakeholder cannot open the document simultaneously.

Can I use linked objects in my cloud documents?

Linked objects
Linked objects get unlink on opening the cloud document on another device

Linked objects
Embed the objects in cloud documents to open them across devices

Linked Smart Objects are supported only on the device on which you create the cloud document. If you have used linked objects in cloud documents, then you need to embed the linked objects to avoid missing links warning when the document is opened on other devices. 

How do I work with cloud documents without Internet?

Yes, you can work offline with any cloud document that is currently available in your device cache. To make sure you have access to a cloud document locally, open the cloud document before going offline. You will then be able to find your project under the Recent section on the home screen and can continue to work. Your document changes will be saved to the cloud as soon as your device is reconnected to a network. 

To learn more about working offline with cloud documents, see Prepare to work offline with cloud documents.

Work offline

How do I get back to an older version of a cloud doc?

Go to assets.adobe.com > Files > Your work > Cloud documents. Open a cloud document and click the Timeline icon from the right side of the document preview. In the timeline view, you can find all your document versions listed. 

To view version history from within the app, go to File > Version History or Windows > Version History.

To learn more, see:

Version history

How do I clear my Creative Cloud storage quota?

The assets you delete while working on Illustrator remain in the Deleted section in the app home screen. As a result, these deleted assets will still consume cloud storage space. To clear up your cloud storage, select   for the document in the Deleted section and click Permanently Delete

To learn more about deleting your cloud documents permanently, see Delete files permanently from cloud storage.

Delete cloud docs

Related topics

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