Abode 2020

Path simplification

If you have complex paths in your artwork and you find it difficult to edit them, use the Path Simplify feature to make your path editing easier. This feature now has an enriched and intuitive user interface.

When you use this feature (Object > Path > Simplify), a dialog is displayed with essential options for simplifying a path. To view advanced options, click the More Options icon to open the Simplify dialog. With this dialog, you can simplify curves, adjust the corner point angle for smoothness, and convert curved paths into straight lines.

For more information, see Simplify a path.

Auto spell-check

Checking spellings is now easy with the Auto Spell-Check feature. If you're designing a book, brochure, resume, poster, or any other artwork that includes text, then do not worry about spelling errors as Illustrator will automatically highlight them as you type the text. 

Note: Illustrator supports spell-check in over 50 languages and dialects. It is currently not supported for East Asian languages.

For more information, see Check spellings.

Background save and export

Your Illustrator files are now saved and exported in the background. You no longer need to wait for the save and export processes to complete, you can continue working on your artwork. Illustrator will inform you when these processes are complete. If required, you can also check the progress by clicking the Check Progress button.

Note: Only .ai, .png, and .jpg files support background save and export. 

For more information, see Background save and Background export.

In-app troubleshooting support

We've improved Illustrator's file open and save processes in this release.

However, if the issue still occurs and your file can't be auto-recovered, Illustrator will display informative error messages stating the file recovery options.

Onboarding resources

To provide you an enriching learning experience and help you get started quickly with Illustrator, we provide a variety of resources in the Home and Learn tab of Illustrator – document presets, guided tutorials, and more. The Home screen also offers a sneak peek of the prominent new features released in the latest version of the app.

For more information, see In-app learning and inspiration.

Faster and quicker effects

If you have ever wished for an improved performance when applying Illustrator effectson images and objects, you'll be pleased to know that this release brings a significant improvement in the execution of Blur, Drop Shadow, and Inner and Outer Glow effects. Applying these effects in Illustrator is now much faster and quicker!

For more information, see Work with effects.

Backward compatibility of Illustrator files

All the new Adobe Illustrator (.ai) and Illustrator EPS (.eps) documents are now saved in the latest Illustrator 2020 format (version 24.0).

However, if you open the Illustrator 2020 document in an earlier version of Illustrator (2019 or before), a warning message is displayed. It indicates that this document is created using a newer version and you may lose some data on opening the document.

For a smooth experience, we recommend you to open the Illustrator 2020 documents in Illustrator 24.0.

Stability and other enhancements

Our aim is to provide you a stable and better product in every release.

In this release of Illustrator, we fixed a lot of issues that you reported to us. For example, issues related to typography, tools, file versioning, gradients, and more. For more information, see Fixed issues.