Boost your Adobe Illustrator efficiency with quick access to most Menu Commands and Tools, all of your Actions, and any Scripts right from your keyboard.
And, with custom Workflows, you can combine multiple commands, actions, and scripts to get things done in your own way. Replace repetitive tasks with workflows and boost your productivity.
If you have worked with Alfred app or VS Code you know how great the “command palette” is… Well, I wanted that same functionality in Adobe Illustrator.
With nearly 500 Menu Commands available to Ai Command Palette (view all here), there isn't much you can't access. I have tested all of them on Adobe Illustrator v26.4.1.
If you find a Menu Command that doesn't work on any Adobe Illustrator version greater than v26.4.1, please file an issue in this repository (how-to)
Quickly access over 80 0f Ai's built-in Tools from your Tools Palette.
If you find a Tool that doesn't work on any Adobe Illustrator version greater than v26.4.1, please file an issue in this repository (how-to)
Access all of your saved Actions using Ai Command Palette. Actions are listed "Action: Action Name [Action Set]" to make searching/accessing easy. If you create a new action you will have to quit Illustrator and reopen before it will be available in Ai Command Palette.
Load any JavaScript files (.js or .jsx) you want quick access to using the Load Scripts... command.
❓ Want to load a bunch of scripts? Multiple selections are allowed using your standard OS multiple selection tools.
Build fully automated automation workflows from multiple Menu Commands, Actions, Scripts, or even other Workflows 🤯!
Do You...
- need to combine multiple scripts into one action?
- need to add functionality to a script but don't know how or have the time?
- need to perform an exact set of actions regularly and want to automate that?
- need to quickly prototype the execution steps of a potential script?
🧨 Workflows are a super powerful utility for beginners, pros, and everyone in between. The possibilities are almost limitless!
The simple workflow above takes your current selection of objects, blends them together, opens the blend options dialog so you can make any necessary adjustments, then expands your blend, and saves your file with an action.
You can access the settings for Ai Command Palette by selecting the "Command Palette Settings..." option (or via search). Most settings are self explanatory but I'll cover a few here to try and makes things clear.
Whenever you delete a command from Ai Command Palette, be it an Action, Script, or Workflow, any workflows that used that command will no longer work.
The "Workflows Needing Attention..." command allows you to see any workflows that need to be fixed. After selecting a workflow that needs attention, you'll be taken to the Workflow Editor to either delete or replace the offending command(s).
If you can't seem to find the built-in Menu Command you are looking for or if you have hidden some (using the "Hide Commands..." function) you can access a full list of them here. The list is sorted just like Ai's menu system to make things easier to find.
❓ Still can't find the command you are looking for? Well, it either is not available via the ExtendScript API or is new and hasn't been implemented into Ai Command Palette yet.
Same as above "Show All Built-In Commands..." just for the built-in Tools offered by Adobe Illustrator.
If there are any Actions, built-in Menu Commands, or built-in Tools you don't want to see in Ai Command Palette you can easily hide them. Note, they will not be deleted, just hidden from the search results.
❓ Need to hide a bunch of commands? Multiple selections are allowed using your standard OS multiple selection tools.
❓ Accidentally hide a command you didn't mean to? To reveal any hidden commands, just use the "Reveal Commands..." function of Ai Command Palette.
All of your Ai Command Palette settings are saved on your system to a "json-like" preferences file. This includes any Scripts you load, Workflows you create, and Commands you have hidden. This command simply "reveals" your preferences file on your system.
With the help of Kurt Gold, Ai Command Palette is currently localized for German versions of Illustrator. This includes all dialogs, alerts, menu commands, and tools.
To make this easier in the future (for new versions or other languages), I built a simple translation utility in Python.
If anyone wants to offer localization for other languages you can learn more here.
I recommend installing this action into your scripts folder (how-to), then tying it to a keyboard shortcut using something like Keyboard Maestro (Mac), BetterTouchTool (Mac), or AutoHotkey (Windows).
ℹ️ I like to use the keyboard shortcut Command-Shift-P since it is somewhat mnemonic for "palette".
Using Ai Command Palette requires some basic knowledge of Illustrator. The script doesn't know which commands can or can't be run at the time of execution so tread carefully. I've included error checking where possible, so in most cases you should get an explanation when something breaks.
🐞 If you find a bug please file an issue.
😬 Also know, most every action this script executes can be undone by choosing Edit > Undo (from the Edit menu at the top of your screen), or by pressing Command-Z (Mac) or Control+Z (Windows).
- Kurt Gold for his work localizing the German.
- Sergey Osokin for his work localizing the Russian version.
- Peter Kahrel for the amazing book ScriptUI for Dummies.
- Sergey Osokin for the clever
openURL()function. - sttk3 for the awesome bit of code that extracts current actions.