Import Illustrator / AI
Import Illustrator file with options to select layers and/or artboards.
This would increase ease of use and workflow, so a user is not always switching between apps.
Peter DiBartolo
shared this idea
Hi everyone,
I’m happy to announce that with version 13 you can natively open Illustrator files in XD. Layers, artboards, effects, symbols and artwork are preserved, editable and at the best visual fidelity.
To open an Illustrator file in XD, do one of the following:
- In XD, select File > Open. Navigate to the required folder, select an .ai file, and open in XD. You can also use the Cmd+O (Mac), or Ctrl+O (Windows) keyboard shortcuts.
- Drag the Ai file over the XD icon (on Mac only).
- Right-click the Illustrator file and select Open with > XD from the sub menu.
Here’s a list of what’s supported and not supported at this time: https://helpx.adobe.com/xd/kb/open-illustrator-files-in-xd.html
We’re also working on adding the same transfer fidelity for copy & paste from Ai workflow, so keep an eye on our next releases.
Thanks for voting this feature and let us know how it works!
Best,
Dan
37 comments
-
Panwat
commented
Yess! Ready to update and try this feature. Ai workflows and features are the best for prototyping and UI design. I will be waiting for the next one on XD. Thank you.
-
Scaner
commented
It will be usefull because many designers have a lot of project made by Illustrator.
-
renetuerckheim
commented
Hello, yes quite usefull, also think about designers how not only work for digital devices. We do also normal Branding an Corporate Design and also Digital Branding. And we design Logos an other stuff only with Illustrator sn work with the cloud libraries to get everything together.
Great funktion go on!
-
Anonymous
commented
I have created a lot of my design in illustrator before xd exist.. so it would be very nice if i can open all my illustrator layout in xd or at least copy paste from illustrator to xd in exact position based on the artboard will be very helpful..
since working all the graphics are layout in illustrator is more convinient and powerfull than in xd.. but i need the linking and clicking ability that xd have.. plz help to make this happen very soon.. thx..
-
Shiftgeist
commented
+1
-
Anonymous
commented
please, make it possible! my colleagues want to use Invision but I love Adobe XD and I don't want to leave it
-
Jan Thomassen commented
Yes, please make a sync function like invision does with sketch and photoshop.
-
ricky
commented
Under review for 2 years, how?
-
fitzage
commented
I just started looking at XD and was flabbergasted by the lack of ability to import Illustrator files.
I guess me and the designer will just have to start using Sketch and ditch Creative Cloud completely. Your loss.
-
Reg iya
commented
Adobe... seriously you dont have this as a CORE feature from the very beggining? XD is USELESS without this, you absolutelly cant compete with Sketch if you cant even make your own apps working togheter... SHAME!
-
Lucas
commented
Honestly, this is a must. If it's part of a suite called Creative Cloud, interoperability is a must.
-
Anonymous
commented
It would be so much helpful to all people who are working faithful for so long with adobes photoshop and illustrator.
-
Melissa Brown Blaeuer commented
Photoshop and Illustrator are the true workhorses of design conceptualization and ideation. They are exquisite tools honed over decades, with a massive fan base.
I just tried XD, and for the interactivity and clean UI, I had to learn a whole new program and very limited toolset -- with a shocking lack of roundtrip editing and copy/paste workflow to the flagship tools. What a wasted opportunity to innovate. This is a MUST to address.
-
Hafez
commented
to add to my comment, this shouldn't be under review, it should be done by now, or no need because they thought of the people using their product. Sad to say, I was super excited about this product, but very disappointed when it came out to the public to use, it feels extremely limited, Sketch is light years ahead and now, in about a month or two InVision Studio product (free) is going to be coming out with what Adobe should have done out the gate, now they are thinking ahead, unlike Adobe.
-
Hafez
commented
Yes, I still don't understand how XD rolled out without thinking (as an Adobe product) that it should leverage all things Illustrator and Photoshop, then add to it by leveraging what Sketch does well, then think they should be a step ahead. They should have learned how to roll out a product the way they did with InDesign and it killed Quark because Adobe actually paid attention to all the needs and functions the user was going to do with their product. This seems to be the opposite with XD where there was little attention made to the user of the product and the depth of needs they will have from low to high fidelity UX/Visual design through prototyping. In other words you shouldn't have to be using Illustrator, all that functionality should have been already a part of XD when they came out with the initial product.
-
Anonymous
commented
The new 'copy paste from Illustrator / Photoshop' doesn't really help. There's still a manual and tedious task to paste all new artwork in Adobe XD. If I were to have Links, the content in XD could simply update.
This is the same behavior as in, for example, After Effects or InDesign, where the assets update automatically -
Tomás
commented
It would be nice to be able to place Illustrator files as linked artwork just to be displayed (not editable) like you can do in Adobe Illustrator (if you save the Ai file with the PDF preview). This way you can separately edit the artwork in Ai and it would be automatically updated in XD.
-
Anonymous
commented
Sooooo important feature, on my side all screens are shared in Illustrator files into the team.
The fact to drag and drop some illustrator elements into XD is mandatory for a good usage of XD. And of course the fact to select the artboard I want to use and to have an auto-update when illustrator files are changed is also really important. -
Anonymous
commented
... if I update my illustrator art-boards my XD prototype is auto updated.
-
Gianni
commented
I may be doing something incorrectly. However, when I take a file from Illustrator and import it into XD, the lettering do not transfer correctly. It is either to large, spaced incorrectly, or goes from caps to small caps.