1.Assign shortcuts to scripts 2. Actions remember insert menu commands when app is started

[Guest]

It been ask before... Many times.  There is probably a current request right now.   It will be asked again... And again... And again...  Under keyboard shortcuts, allow scripts to assigned a shortcut.  Also have actions remember insert menu commands when the application is restarted.   Was patiently waiting years ago... Now I am starting to grit my teeth. When my dentist lectures me over grinding my teeth, she will not be as forgiving as I have been over the years.   It is time to set a small portion of available resources to fix and add functionality to this.

[Guest]

shameless bump to stress this request.

[Mike Sofa]

I agree this request has been ignored for far too long.
Just to clarify somewhat: Actions currntly do remember most insert menu commands, even after restart. They just don't remember Script menu commands. They have to be re-created or reloaded after every crash or restart. This same bug appeared for Layer commands in CS4, but they managed to fix it in CS5,so it seems like they ought to be able to fix it for Scripts, too.
However, if your first request was implemented, the ability to assign keyboard shortcuts reliably to Scripts, it would actually eliminate the need to access Scripts via the keyboard by using an Action. Any Action created solely to run a script via an F-Key would become unnecessary, since the keyboard shortcut would be directly associated with the Script, and also have the advantage of using the whole keyboard as options and not just the F-Keys.
But for including a script as part of a multiple step action, we would still need to have that step retained after restarts. So both requests are valid.
I'm not sure if that really does clarify, but I hope somebady at Adobe will finally fix this.

Mike D.

[mapsnmad]

+1

I want this so much. Hands are so tired. Have great scripts. Need ability to trigger them with keyboard.

I tried using an Action, but Illustrator CS5 doesn't load the Actions properly. Each restart, it forgets the item I added from the scripts menu.

[JJSkinner]

I do this:

Navigate to the Illustrator scripts folder:

C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator CC 2017\Presets\en_US\Scripts

Create a Folder (for example "custom")

Place the custom scripts into the folder.

Create a new action with the hotkey you want

stop recording the action then go to the actions panel (the 3 lines on the top)

click "Insert Menu Item"

then in the box type:

(name of custom script folder):(name of script)

Makesur to use the : (Colon)

Done.

[c.pfaffenbichler]

I agree with the request.

It’s a pity the Illustrator team seems to have such a very different approach to user input via these Fora from the Photoshop team – those may also not be able to accomodate all the users with their wishes naturally, but at least one gets the impression that requests are registered and taken into consideration.

Edit: Or is this a delibarate attempt to protect illustrators from the dangers of working more efficiently?

[Mike Sofa]

With Adobe CS6 expected to be released this Spring, it may already be too late for this long overdue request to be filled this time, but it sure son't if we don't keep reminding them.

Please, let keyboard shortcuts be assigned to scripts. For those who use scripts, this would be a great productivity improvement.

Please, let Actions retain script steps after re-starts. This is really more of a bug fix than a feature request.

[mapsnmad]

Yes, Illustrator team, please consider fixing this as Mike describes.

[c.pfaffenbichler]

Maybe the Illustrator team is extremely under-funded – otherwise maintaining a bug for five versions would seem somewhat peculiar.

[c.pfaffenbichler]

They kept it for yet another release!

Remarkable.

[mapsnmad]

Disappointing that they still haven't fixed the Actions bug.

[Mike Sofa]

Maybe someone can write a script that will bump one of these three threads to the top of the list every other week or so...

I'd run it even without a shortcut.

[c.pfaffenbichler]

Bump …

[Guest]

I am extremely disappointed with Adobe.

With many version, years, upon years, this feature request and bug fix has been ignored, I will respond by reducing my purchasing of Adobe products.

Within the next 3 versions of the software, I will reduce my spending by $50,000.

I will achieve this by skipping one to two generations of releases, creating multiple shifts to hot seat the systems that have the licenses to prevent additional license purchases  and will not be upgrading my personal license.

The estimated reduce spend is a conservative number. By failing to listen to your client base, it will cost you in reduced sales.

[c.pfaffenbichler]

I am extremely disappointed with Adobe.

And who can blame you?

But I wonder (and with seemingly zero input from the Illustrator team in these Fora one can but speculate) if it is the product-related Adobe employees who just don’t consider this a relevant feature (which would seem somewhat shocking) or if the resources to fix what I think can be called embarrassment are denied on a »higher« level within the company.

[Guest]

c.pfaffenbichler wrote:

But I wonder (and with seemingly zero input from the Illustrator team in these Fora one can but speculate) if it is the product-related Adobe employees who just don’t consider this a relevant feature (which would seem somewhat shocking) or if the resources to fix what I think can be called embarrassment are denied on a »higher« level within the company.

It is most definitely caused by a »higher« level within the company.

Those I have interacted on the Illustrator team in the past have always been committed to a quality product.

Any developer's hands are tied when resources are not assigned. To overly simiplify, Adobe manages a finite amount of resources to give them the greatest bang for the buck.

This feature request and bug fix is on the list somewhere in Adobe. Unfortunately, it has never risen to the point where it achieved execution status.

It leaves the users to create workarounds for the issue.

When the list is reevaluated, I hope Adobe takes into account they will lose a minimum of 50K in sales. In planning the reduced purchases, I think I can get it up to 75K in the same time frame. I cannot imagine fixing this would cost even a third of those sales.

[c.pfaffenbichler]

This feature request and bug fix is on the list somewhere in Adobe. Unfortunately, it has never risen to the point where it achieved execution status.

Because if customers stuck with them despite their maintaining a bug for six straight versions why rank it any higher on the to-do-list now?

[David_Entwistle]

I stopped using Xpress when Quark had clearly become too big to care much about users' views. It seems the same attitude, sadly, is now entrenched at Adobe: and for much the same reason: there's little in the way of competitive products. (I know this forum is about Illustrator, by the way; and I've been an Illustrator user since the very first in 1987.)

But Adobe's lack of presence in their forums does make you wonder, not just whether contributions are ever read (still less acted upon), but why the company bothers with something that might easily be dismissed as window dressing for their support effort.

And as regards keyboard shortcuts for scripts (of which I am wholeheartedly and enthusiastically in favour): why bother to provide scripting features at all unless you're willing to demonstrate (by action on this topic) that you regard them as a serious part of your product?

Sorry if this is approaching an (invariably self-defeating) rant. Just wanted to let our good friends Adobe know that the relative lack of posts does not mean that the requirement has melted away.

[Guest]

The general level of support for automation across Illustrator is very poor compared to most professional apps I've used. Especially compared to Photoshop. In Photoshop, nearly ever feature is acessible by Javascript/VB/Applescript. Illustrator has tons of important features - like the entire pathfinder palette - with 0 script support. In Photoshop, in the rare event you find something not directly scriptable, you can almost always get around it with script listener (not available for Illustrator), or with user interface scripting (doesn't work on palette item in Illustrator). I can't find any way to script a pathfinder command.

Action recording between the programs has a similar difference - in Photoshop, nearly every single operation you can perform in any way gets caught in actions. I've recorded action sets thousands of steps long, and there are several "software packages" for screen printing separations for Photoshop that costs hundreds of dollars (T-seps, Quikseps) that are just many sets of actions, many with thousands of steps. But almost any time I try to record an Illustrator action, it just skips about a quarter of the steps I perform, it doesn't record them in any way. Or doesn't record them in a useful way - for example, an action that uses the "align" function doesn't remember if it's "to artboard" to or "to selection," so an action's results are unreliable, and it's impossible to write an action using a combination of the alignment methods.

Failing to fix basic bugs, like macros losing their assigned function when you quit, for years and years, is just representative of the basic "we don't care about automation" attitude that pervades Illustrator.

In general, Illustrator is on the rise, and CorelDraw is declining, but there are a lot of fields dependent on custom add-ons that Illustrator can't compete in, because you can't effectively add on to it. Look at screen printing, there are a half dozen packages for sale for CorelDraw without a single equivalent for Illustrator.

[c.pfaffenbichler]

Failing to fix basic bugs, like macros losing their assigned function when you quit, for years and years, is just representative of the basic "we don't care about automation" attitude that pervades Illustrator.

I like to think that at least some of the developpers and programmers involved with Illustrator consider automation a valid concern but for whatever reason the final product that us customers get does seem to justify your comment.

[c.pfaffenbichler]

Bump …

[MasterOLove]

As a workaround to Illustrator's lack of script shortcut functionality I downloaded AutoHotKey from www(dot)autohotkey(dot)com which allows you to program any type of action in any program. It's capability is pretty extensive so the learning curve on programming AutoHotkey is steep but well worth it once your scripts are simple shortcuts. Hope it helps!

[Guest]

Three potential workarounds to the hotkey issue.

1. If your're on a Mac: Make an automator action that calls the applescript, and assign that to a hotkey. Directions here

http://http://blog.fosketts.net/2010/08/09/assign-keyboard-shortcut-applescript-automator-service/

Properties in your Applescript will not retain their values when the script is run this way. But the scripts could be modified to use a text file in place of properties.

2.If You're on a Mac: Install Quicksilver, and use triggers to assign your keys to applescripts.

http://qsapp.com

3. Mac or PC: Buy some x-keys and assign the Applescripts to them

http://www.piengineering.com/xkeys.php

If Adobe would finish making Illustrator a Cocoa application, you can now also assign keys to menu items right through OSX under Keyboard in System Preferences, for those of us on Macs.

[Muppet Mark]

Did this get fixed with CS6…?

[David_Entwistle]

Hi Mark - I can't speak for the 'actions remember insert menu commands' requirement, but CS6 does not let you assign keyboard shortcuts to scripts.

Under the 'Menu commands' option of the File > Keyboard Shortcuts dialog, there's a cryptic reference to 'Other Scrips', with the shortcut 'command-F12'. (CS4 has this too.) I've no idea what Adobe intended this to do, as it conflicts with Apple's keyboard shortcut to increase speaker volume. And there's still no facility to add further entries to the dialog.

Ho hum!