Work with Illustrator cloud documents

Learn how to save your work as cloud documents and instantly access it wherever you have Illustrator installed.

Cloud documents are Adobe's cloud-native document file type that can be accessed online or offline directly from within the Illustrator application. You can access Illustrator cloud documents on any device (desktop or iPad) where Illustrator is installed.

Why cloud documents

Hi, I'm Annie! I'm a designer, working on a client project using Illustrator on desktop. I need to travel often for work. I'm looking for an efficient system that can help me continue my creative work on-the-go.


Be able to seamlessly collaborate on Illustrator documents across devices without the risk of losing work. Be able to retrieve previous document versions as my work goes through multiple review iterations with the client.
Does this sound familiar? If you're facing such challenges, save your creative work as cloud documents! Cloud documents let you work on different devices with full document fidelity.

How cloud documents help

Access files on-the-go

Stay creative wherever you go! Save your work as cloud documents and access it from any device where you have Illustrator installed. 

Autosave files to cloud

No loss of unsaved work as your updates get autosaved. Saving of cloud documents is faster than your local documents.

Track version history

Easily manage or view cloud document revisions directly from within the app. Autosave keeps past versions readily available! 

Create and save Illustrator cloud documents

All the documents that you create and edit using Illustrator on the iPad are automatically saved as cloud documents. Use the Create new option in the app home screen to create a cloud document.

To save a new document as a cloud document in Illustrator on the desktop, choose File Save. In the Save to Creative Cloud window, type in a name and select Save.

The cloud documents are saved with .aic extension and display a cloud symbol on the tab name to indicate that you're working on a cloud document.

Autosave Illustrator cloud documents

Your cloud documents will be saved automatically as you work. Autosave keeps the cloud documents up-to-date and you can access them wherever you have Illustrator installed. A version history is also maintained for each save operation that you manually perform. For more details, see View version history.

The default autosave time is 5 minutes. To change the autosave time, go to Preferences > File Handling & Clipboard and select a time in the Automatically Save Cloud Documents Every drop-down list.

Access Illustrator cloud documents

Access cloud documents from Your files tab of the Home screen

Cloud documents ensure that your work is always updated, across devices with full fidelity.

After your document is saved as a cloud document, you can access it from the Your files tab in the Illustrator Home screen or from the Creative Cloud website

 You can manage your cloud documents on this website, however, you need to use Illustrator app to create, open, edit, and save cloud documents.

Organize Illustrator cloud documents

From the app

Organize cloud docs from the app

Click or tap Cloud documents tab in the Home screen on your desktop or iPad. You can perform the following tasks: 

  • Click  to create a new folder to organize your cloud documents.
  • Enable the check box for each cloud document to select multiple cloud documents.
  • Click list view () or grid view () icons to change the view.
  • Click the   button to rename, delete, move, and select a document. You can also make a document available offline through this menu.

From the web

Organize cloud docs from the Creative Cloud website

Go to Creative Cloud website > Files tab > Cloud documents.

  • Click to create a new folder to organize your cloud documents. 
  • Enable the check box next to each cloud document to select multiple cloud documents.
  • Click list view () or grid view () icons to change the view.
  • Click the  button to open, rename, delete, move, and select a document.

Manage Illustrator cloud documents

Rename

delete

Move

Copy

Rename a cloud document

To rename your cloud documents from the app (desktop or iPad Home screen) or from the Creative Cloud website:

  1. Click the   icon available for a cloud document thumbnail and select Rename
  2. Type in a new name for your cloud document to rename it.

Delete and restore a cloud document

To delete a cloud document from the app (desktop or iPad Home screen) or from the Creative Cloud website:

  • Click   icon available for a cloud document thumbnail and select Delete. The documents you delete will get archived and stored in the Deleted section in the Home screen and Creative Cloud > Files > Deleted folder. 

To restore a deleted cloud document:

  • Open the Deleted section and click   menu for a cloud document and choose Restore. You can find the restored cloud documents under the Cloud documents section.

To delete your cloud documents permanently to clear your cloud storage:

  • Open the Deleted section and click   menu for a cloud document and choose Permanently delete. To learn more about storage quota, see File storage and quota.

Move a cloud document to a folder

To move a cloud document to a folder from the app (desktop or iPad Home screen) or from the Creative Cloud website:

  1. Click the   icon available for cloud document thumbnail and choose Move To
  2. In the panel that opens, select from available folders or use the Add folder () option to create a folder.
  3. Click Move to place your selected cloud documents in a folder.

To move multiple cloud documents simultaneously, click the check box for the cloud documents and then perform the move operation. 

Copy a cloud document

To create a copy of the cloud document from the Creative Cloud website:

  • Click the  icon available for cloud document thumbnail and choose Copy.

Note: You cannot copy a cloud document while working with Illustrator on desktop.

View version history of Illustrator cloud documents

You can view and manage the version history of your Illustrator cloud documents from the app and from the web.

Version History panel with search bar, filter, and timestamps.
Use the Version History panel to manage your document versions better.

From the desktop

You can track and view the version history of your cloud documents using the Version History panel that opens from within the Illustrator app. 

Do one of the following to open this panel:

  • Choose File Version History.
  • Choose Windows Version History.

In the Version History panel:

  • Select   icon > Edit version info to add name and description to your document version. 
  • Select the Mark versions () icon to save the version. Select the Mark versions icon again to remove a saved version.
  • Search for your document version by typing its name or description.
  • Filter your document version using Marked Versions or any of the timestamps.

 Versions that are not marked are deleted periodically, so make sure to mark any version you want to retain permanently. 

From the iPad

To view the version history for a cloud document in Illustrator on the iPad, do the following:

  1. Go to Home screenYour files.
  2. Tap  below the thumbnail of a cloud document and choose View version history.
    The version history is displayed. You can rename the version or mark a history version to save it.

From the web

To view the version history from the web, do the following:

  1. Go to Creative Cloud website > Files > Cloud documents.
  2. Open a cloud document and click Timeline ().
  3. In the Timeline panel, you will find auto-saved versions of your cloud document. Hover over a cloud document version to see more options.
Version history on the Creative Cloud website

Revert to a previous version of Illustrator cloud document

From the web

Revert to a previous version on the Creative Cloud website

  1. In the Timeline panel, click the  icon.
  2. Select Revert to this version to revert to a previous version. The reverted version will appear when you open the cloud document in Illustrator.

From the desktop

Revert to a previous version in the app

  1. In the Version History panel, click the  icon next to a marked version you want to revert.
  2. Choose Revert to this version. The cloud document will be reverted to the selected version immediately when you close the dialog.

 Also, you can click Rename this version to change the name of the cloud document version.

From the iPad

To revert to a previous version of cloud document in Illustrator on the iPad, do the following:

  1. Go to Home screenYour files.
  2. Tap  below the thumbnail of a cloud document and choose View version history
  3. In the Version history dialog that appears, select a history version from the history list on the right.
  4. Tap  and choose Revert to this version to revert to the selected history version. 

Generate a cloud document link for sharing

On the Creative Cloud website:

  • Click the   icon available for the cloud document thumbnail and choose Get link to generate a public link.
  • Select a cloud document and click Get link.

Anyone with the link can view your creative work and post comments.

Work on Illustrator cloud documents when offline

No Internet access? Don't worry, you can create an offline copy of your cloud document and start working. Just ensure that you have the current version available on your device.

Files not available to work offline

  1. Go to Home screen and click Cloud documents.
  2. The cloud icon  for a cloud document indicates that it's available online only. Documents without the cloud icon  have already been downloaded to the cache on your device and are available offline.
Cloud document icons for online, offline, and conflict file

A. Online only B. Available offline C. Conflict file 

If all the changes cannot be synced for any reason, you will not lose your work. Illustrator creates a conflict file (backup file) on your device, from which you can recover your changes. Once the file starts syncing on the cloud, the conflict icon is changed to the   icon.

When you're back online, your updated document is automatically uploaded to the cloud and is available across all your devices.
See also: Why can’t I see my cloud documents offline?

If you need to work without Internet connection, see Prepare to work offline with cloud documents. To create an offline copy of your document, tap the  icon next to the cloud document and choose Make available offline always. The icon changes to indicate that the file is available offline.

Place Adobe Photoshop cloud documents

You can take your Illustrator designs further by placing Photoshop cloud documents (PSDCs) on Illustrator desktop and iPad.

From the desktop

To place Photoshop cloud documents on Illustrator, do the following:

  1. Open a new or an existing Illustrator document.

  2. Choose File > Place . A dialog appears that shows all your Illustrator cloud documents and cloud documents from other Creative Cloud apps. 
    If you're using both Illustrator on the iPad and desktop, your Adobe Fresco designs are also available in Illustrator on the desktop.

  3. Click Open Cloud Document and select the Photoshop cloud document (.psdc) that you want to place into your current Illustrator document.

  4. Select Linked to place a linked file, or deselect Linked to embed the artwork in the Illustrator document.

  5. Click Place and work with linked or embedded artwork in Illustrator.

From the iPad

Similarly, you can link or embed PSDC documents in Illustrator on the iPad. For more details, see Work with Photoshop and Fresco documents.


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