executeMenuCommand() Command List

[jduncan]

While building Ai Command Palette I found a great list of executeMenuCommand() values extracted by Shalako Lee from the 2017 SDK. As you might imagine, some of those commands no longer work, and since I'm about to release v0.2.0 of Ai Command Palette I've been testing them all and keeping track of the results in this Google Sheet.

I'm sharing this here because I figured this might be useful to some of you who write scripts for Illustrator. The sheet includes the Original List of commands from Shalako and a working list of the commands that I'm testing in Ai v26.3.1.

Right now I'm about halfway through the original 506 commands from Shalako's list. So far, I've found about 90 that no longer work. I've also updated any verbiage that may have changed in the menu system (since 2017) and updated the ordering to match Ai v26.3.1.

I also, made a simple script to test the commands below if you want to test any yourself. I'm trying to test each command in context to ensure they are working correctly.

Let me know if you have any other that I may have missed... Cheers!

P.S. There is another list on this forum (posted in 2014) that I have yet to review but I am aware of it and plan to compare it with Shalako's.

var result = prompt("Enter Command To Test", "", "Test Built-In Commands");

try {
  app.executeMenuCommand(result);
} catch (e) {
  alert("Error executing command:\n" + result + "\n\n" + e);
}

[sttk3]

Found new commands in Illustrator v30.0.

menu	key	note
Object > Generative > Generate Vectors...	GenAIConsolidatedGenerateVectors	Changed from 'Generate Modal File Menu ' at v30.0
Object > Generative > Gen Shape Fill...	GenAIConsolidatedShapeFill	Changed from 'Shape Fill Object Menu' at v30.0
Object > Generative > Print Bleed	GenAIConsolidatedBleed	Changed from 'Gen Bleed Object Menu' at v30.0
Object > Generative > Generative Recolor	GenAIConsolidatedRecolor	Added from v30.0
Object > Generative > Generate Patterns	GenAIConsolidatedPatterns	Changed from 'Adobe Generative Patterns Panel' at v30.0
Object > Generative > Generation History	GenAIConsolidatedVariations	Changed from 'Generate' at v30.0
Object > Artboards > Switch Orientation	Switch Orientation	Added from v30.0

[sttk3]

Found new commands. The menuCommandString for “Other Text” and “Other Misc” and so on, which were previously unsupported, is now enabled. Surprising.

Based on my investigation, it appears available starting with Illustrator 2025 (29.4).

menu	key	note
File > Close All	closeAll	Added from v29.4
Type > Insert Special Character > Symbols > Bullet	~bullet	Added from v29.4
Type > Insert Special Character > Symbols > Copyright Symbol	~copyright	Added from v29.4
Type > Insert Special Character > Symbols > Ellipsis	~ellipsis	Added from v29.4
Type > Insert Special Character > Symbols > Paragraph Symbol	~paragraphSymbol	Added from v29.4
Type > Insert Special Character > Symbols > Registered Trademark Symbol	~registeredTrademark	Added from v29.4
Type > Insert Special Character > Symbols > Section Symbol	~sectionSymbol	Added from v29.4
Type > Insert Special Character > Symbols > Trademark Symbol	~trademarkSymbol	Added from v29.4
Type > Insert Special Character > Hyphens And Dashes > Em Dash	~emDash	Added from v29.4
Type > Insert Special Character > Hyphens And Dashes > En Dash	~enDash	Added from v29.4
Type > Insert Special Character > Hyphens And Dashes > Discretionary Hyphen	~discretionaryHyphen	Added from v29.4
Type > Insert Special Character > Quotation Marks > Double Left Quotation Marks	~doubleLeftQuote	Added from v29.4
Type > Insert Special Character > Quotation Marks > Double Right Quotation Marks	~doubleRightQuote	Added from v29.4
Type > Insert Special Character > Quotation Marks > Single Left Quotation Marks	~singleLeftQuote	Added from v29.4
Type > Insert Special Character > Quotation Marks > Single Right Quotation Marks	~singleRightQuote	Added from v29.4
Type > Insert WhiteSpace Character > Em Space	~emSpace	Added from v29.4
Type > Insert WhiteSpace Character > En Space	~enSpace	Added from v29.4
Type > Insert WhiteSpace Character > Hair Space	~hairSpace	Added from v29.4
Type > Insert WhiteSpace Character > Thin Space	~thinSpace	Added from v29.4
Type > Insert Break Character > Forced Line Break	~forcedLineBreak	Added from v29.4
Other Text > Point Size Up	faceSizeUp	Added from v29.4
Other Text > Point Size Down	faceSizeDown	Added from v29.4
Other Text > Font Size Step Up	sizeStepUp	Added from v29.4
Other Text > Font Size Step Down	sizeStepDown	Added from v29.4
Other Text > Kern Looser	~kernFurther	Added from v29.4
Other Text > Kern Tighter	~kernCloser	Added from v29.4
Other Text > Tracking	tracking	Added from v29.4
Other Text > Clear Tracking	clearTrack	Added from v29.4
Other Text > Spacing	spacing	Added from v29.4
Other Text > Uniform Type	clearTypeScale	Added from v29.4
Other Text > Highlight Font	highlightFont	Added from v29.4
Other Text > Highlight Font (Secondary)	highlightFont2	Added from v29.4
Other Text > Left Align Text	leftAlign	Added from v29.4
Other Text > Center Text	centerAlign	Added from v29.4
Other Text > Right Align Text	rightAlign	Added from v29.4
Other Text > Justify Text Left	justify	Added from v29.4
Other Text > Justify Text Center	justifyCenter	Added from v29.4
Other Text > Justify Text Right	justifyRight	Added from v29.4
Other Text > Justify All Lines	justifyAll	Added from v29.4
Other Text > Toggle Auto Hyphenation	toggleAutoHyphen	Added from v29.4
Other Text > Toggle Line Composer	toggleLineComposer	Added from v29.4
Other Text > Subscript	~subscript	Added from v29.4
Other Text > Superscript	~superScript	Added from v29.4
Other Text > Bold	~textBold	Added from v29.4
Other Text > Italic	~textItalic	Added from v29.4
Other Text > Underline	~textUnderline	Added from v29.4
Other Object > Lock Others	lock2	Added from v29.4
Other Object > Hide Others	hide2	Added from v29.4
Other Object > Repeat Pathfinder	repeatPathfinder	Added from v29.4
Other Object > Average & Join	avgAndJoin	Added from v29.4
Other Object > Isolate Selected Object	enterFocus	Added from v29.4
Other Object > Exit Isolation Mode	exitFocus	Added from v29.4
Other Misc > Switch Units	switchSelTool	Added from v29.4
Other Misc > New File (No Dialog)	new2	Added from v29.4
Other Misc > Help (Secondary)	helpcontent2	Added from v29.4
Other Misc > Undo (Secondary)	undo2	Added from v29.4
Other Misc > Cut (Secondary)	cut2	Added from v29.4
Other Misc > Copy (Secondary)	copy2	Added from v29.4
Other Misc > Paste (Secondary)	paste2	Added from v29.4
Other Misc > Zoom In (Secondary)	zoomin2	Added from v29.4
Other Misc > Navigate to Next Document	navigateToNextDocument	Added from v29.4
Other Misc > Navigate to Previous Document	navigateToPreviousDocument	Added from v29.4
Other Misc > Navigate to Next Document Group	navigateToNextDocumentGroup	Added from v29.4
Other Misc > Navigate to Previous Document Group	navigateToPreviousDocumentGroup	Added from v29.4
Other Misc > Subscript (Secondary)	~subscript2	Added from v29.4
Other Misc > Superscript (Secondary)	~superScript2	Added from v29.4

[CarlosCanto]

Awesome! thanks for sharing

[jduncan]

Wow, great work! I'll get these all added to AiCommandPalette. Thanks as always for sharing and putting in the work to extract all of these!

[krasnovpro]

Looks like they fixed PARM error: https://github.com/krasnovpro/taptapkey/blob/main/adobe/illustrator/dicts/menus.yaml#L1524

They only fixed app.executeMenuCommand(), but app.selectTool('Adobe Blend Mode Darken') also crashes.

[Raymond ZJH]

Awe inspiring, that's what I'm looking for.👍👍

[krasnovpro · Accepted solution]

There are my files for:

• com reg keys,
• .aia and .kys key codes,
• app.executeMenuCommand('command'), 
• app.selectTool('command'),
• and parm error

https://github.com/krasnovpro/taptapkey/tree/main/adobe/illustrator/dicts

[jduncan]

Another great list! I went through all of yours and added the ones I didn't have. Thanks so much!

[rcraighead]

I was not aware of the "app.selectTool()" command! Thank you.

[krasnovpro]

Command has been updated to AI 2023.

Also, maybe someone will need a list of aliases – commands from the kys file and their counterparts for executeMenuCommand, it includes in menus.yaml

[CarlosCanto]

thanks for the update!

[krasnovpro]

Also commands change log includes in menus.yaml

[jduncan]

Yeah, so I built a new spreadsheet for my latest version of Ai Command Palette which you can see here. It has the min and max versions for menu and tool commands that I was last aware of. I plan to go through your list and add them there as well. It has a bunch of other stuff, including the localization for DE and RU. This python script I created ingests these spreadsheets (as CSV's) and creates JavaScript objects very similar to your last post (see below).

Ai Command Palette uses this to know which menu commands and tools should be available for each user depending on their system. It would be great if we could all work together to try and complete this list as much as possible. I did a bunch of testing for the last version and plan to do the same for this one when I have time.

// generated localized commands data object
{
  tool: {
    "tool_Adobe Add Anchor Point Tool": {
      action: "Adobe Add Anchor Point Tool",
      type: "tool",
      minVersion: 24,
      maxVersion: null,
      loc: {
        en: "Add Anchor Point Tool",
        de: "Ankerpunkt-hinzufügen-Werkzeug",
        ru: "Добавить опорную точку Инструмент",
      },
    },
  },
  // ...
}

[jduncan]

@krasnovpro, I went through your updated lists and got everything I didn't have added to my spreadsheet. Ai Command Palette is updated with these in v0.4.1 too. Thanks!

[笠間38198967ieha]

The app.selectTool command for AstuteGraphicsPlugins doesn't seem to work. When I tested it, it caused Adobe Illustrator 2024 to crash. I used the command from your tool.txt file: app.selectTool('AG Dynamic Shapes');`, but it didn't work even though the plugin is installed. Could there be an error in the documentation?

[krasnovpro]

Correct code:

app.selectTool('Dynamic Shapes Tool');

Read the file more carefully.

[笠間38198967ieha]

Where did you find these tool names, I have another aip plugin but I don't know the tool names for it!

[krasnovpro]

Go to Edit → Keyboard Shortcuts.

Bind your tool to the 0 (zero key).

Save set with name test.

Run Notepad and open this file:

%AppData%\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator 28 Settings\en_US\x64\test.kys

(fix the path if you have a different version or locale).

Find all occurrences of /Key 48.

One of them will look something like this:

	/Snap\ To\ Collisions\ Tool {
		/Context 0
		/Modifiers 0
		/Represent 48
		/Key 48
	}

Remove the leading slash and all backslashes, and you get the command name.

In this example, it's Snap To Collisions Tool.

Now you can use it with app.selectTool.

[Flowgun]

this is great, but how do I go about using the tool functions? (e.g: Adobe Tool Dec Diameter, Adobe Swap Fill Stroke...) ??? been trying for the whole day 😞

[jduncan]

So to activate/select a tool (as you would with the mouse) you call the `selectTool()` method like:

app.selectTool("Adobe Arc Tool")

 ...but the two items you listed are not built-in AI tools that I am aware of (link to a list of tools I have tested) so they may be from plug-in I don't have installed.

[Flowgun]

fair enough. I found them in the "tools.yaml" file maintained by @krasnovpro . last update yesterday. so I thought maybe they now work somehow with selectTool or can be injected into the tool somehow in new illustrator. I updated and tried everything in power but no success.

[jduncan]

Ah, I see his list... So "Adobe Tool Dec Diameter" is listed under "# tool functions (not tools)" and "Adobe Swap Fill Stroke" is not a "tool" per se. Both of those items are also listed under his bugs section with the note "# The commands below produces =PARM= error and may cause a crash". Sorry!

[krasnovpro]

Tool functions are not accessible from app.selectTool, they cause a PARM error, just like some menu functions, and can also crash Illustrator. This behavior is described at the end of the tools.yaml. To fix this, contact Adobe programmers. As workaround you can record the tool function into an action and invoke it through app.doScript.

[CarlosCanto]

awesome work, thanks to all that contributed to put the list together.

[Disposition_Dev]

So many great resources here. Thanks to everyone for contributing and compiling these lists and even testing them in different versions.

On the topic of menu commands, my biggest gripe has always been the naming convention of the commands. In many cases, the argument required for app.executeMenuCommand() is cryptic, nonsensical, or not at all descriptive of what the command does. Additionally, the variable naming convention makes it very difficult to remember how to format the argument for the command you need. And incorrectly formatting your menu command argument brings about the dreaded MRAP/PARM. 

Would there be any interest in, or do you think you might use some kind of framework for app.executeMenuCommand() allowing the freedom to effectively namespace "app.executeMenuCommand" with a custom function name (personally, id choose emc("commandName"); but any user could choose whatever function name they want. Then within the function, the custom arguments are assigned to the appropriate argument for executeMenuCommand(). Errant arguments could also be handled more gracefully and with more useful info than a generic mrap.

This also gives freedom to the user to customize their command/argument pairs to best suit their workflow. As an example, to select all same fill colors, the default argument is "Find Fill Color menu item" in a frustrating variable letter case scheme.. I'd like to call that command with emc("sameFill"); so in my emc() function, i'd assign "sameFill" to "Find Fill Color menu item", then input the appropriate argument into executeMenuCommand();

It would also be possible to include custom logic before/after the actual menu command for certain commands. As an example, the live pathfinder effects often need to be expanded. But not always. emc() could accept another argument for enabling or disabling the paired functionality, or even just passing it in as one of the parameters. perhaps an object literal for feeding custom params to different functions.

You could also bind multiple menu commands together for common tasks, all while keeping your main code nice and tidy (a big priority of mine after many years of writing disgusting spaghetti code) with menu command arguments that make sense to YOU and are customizable for your own workflow.

If optimization is desired.. I.E, not including a giant function with 500+ commands to every script just so you can use one or two.. The commands could be split into smaller chunks by category like "File", "Edit", etc. Or even compact custom sets for production that only include the commands your code actually uses.

What do you guys think? I know extendscript/scripting-as-we-know-it is dying anyway and transitioning to UXP.. But I think this would be a pretty straightforward build that could still be useful in the interim.