How can I save a Custom Workspace in Illustrator CC?

[MeadeBaron]

I believe I've found a major bug in Illustrator CC ...or to put it more aptly...what appears to be an omission. The help topic path that tells how to save a custom workspace in previous versions does not exist in Illustrator CC. Has this option been reconfigured or simply forgotten? Please enlighten me if you have the answer. I'm using a Trial Version.

[Monika Gause]

You mean this?

http://help.adobe.com/en_US/illustrator/cs/using/WS714a382cdf7d304e7e07d0100196cbc5f-6310a.html

[MeadeBaron]

Yes, and if you scroll down to "Save a custom workspace"...you will see the path description: "(Illustrator) Choose Window>Workspace>Save Workspace". This path does not exist in Illiustrator CC (Trial Version). WTF? Thank you.

[Monika Gause]

Since that document is for more than one software, the path is:

Window>Workspace>Save Workspace

"(Illustrator)" should just tell you that this is the solution for Illustrator

[MeadeBaron]

But Monika...which version of Illustrator are you working in? That path does not exist in Illustrator CC Tryout!

[Monika Gause]

I'm working in CC

In the German version (which I use) it's

Window > Workspace > New Workspace

[MeadeBaron]

Okay...but how do you save a custom workspace as the DEFAULT...i.e. I want the Artboard to fill almost the entire Illustrator window every time I open File>New ? Do you understand...so that I am looking at a big white "canvas" to work on every time I open a new document to design something.

[Monika Gause]

Edit your startup profile (or new document profile)

http://blogs.adobe.com/adobeillustrator/2009/05/startup_profiles_a_great_tool.html

[MeadeBaron]

Is the path described in the article valid for Windows 8? It seems incredibly convoluted. Why should such a simple function be so darn complicated? Why has the option to save a Custom Workspace been removed from the Illustrator Interface? I think there may be too many cooks in the kitchen!

[MeadeBaron]

Hi Monika...that information is horribly outdated. I'm working in Windows 8 64-bit... that post is from 2009..never the twain shall meet. There should be a way to do it within the Illustrator Interface. I think I'll defer to someone who knows Illustrator really, really well for the answer -- such as Deke McClelland of Lynda.com. I appreciate your efforts -- but I've already spent way too much time on this today. I'll get back to you with the solution as soon as I get it from the horses mouth...thanks for all of your efforts.

[Monika Gause]

You can easily find the location of the new document profiles. When setting up a new document, go to the menu of profiles, then select "Brwose". THis takes you directly to the folder.

Use your operating system's tools to display that folder in the Windows Navigator.

MeadeBaron wrote:

I think I'll defer to someone who knows Illustrator really, really well for the answer

answers here can only be as precise as your questions.

[MeadeBaron]

"go to the menu of profiles" -- This doesn't make any sense -- as there is no such animal within Illustrator. You are jumping around and assuming that I know what you know. You need to be more linear and specific in your navigational directions.

[Monika Gause]

"When setting up a new document", so in the new document dialog box open that menu.

This here is no support channel, but a user to user forum. So I'm a normal user just as you are. I'm helping you for the fun of it. Please talk to me in a way that it actually is fun, will you?

[MeadeBaron]

This is not my idea of "Fun" -- I see this as a painful, inefficient waste of valuable time. What would be "fun" would  be to quickly resolve this issue and move on to being able to use the software! If we were screen-sharing through a program such as "Team Viewer 8", I would be able to understand what the heck you are talking about as you could walk me through it in Illustrator -- now that would be one step closer to approaching my idea of fun!

[musextr]

I downloaded illustrator CC2017 to try. Launched and began to customize the workspace to your liking, then save (Window> Workspace> Save Workspace), and close the program. Now re-launched illustrator and work space is not preserved, even the left tool bar turned into two columns instead of one. It seems not working storage workspace. (((

I'm tired customize panels each time after start.

how to fix it?

[Jededoobie]

i was able to successfully export the settings file. But, then after update to CC2017, illustrator wouldn't recognize the exported settings file.  ...ended up rebuilding workspace. again. 

     VERY frustrating.    Good luck.

[jooheey81144428]

well idk if you find the answer or not

but anyways here's the answer. The way to put your custom illustrator workspace in illustrator CC, go to

Window > Workspace > Manage Workspaces >>> then you can fill the blank whatever you want to put, then click OK. then you'll see your workspace on the pulldown menu.

[aih]

This is an old post, but it came up for me in a Google search and nobody's answered the question, so I thought I'd chime in:

All of the above replies, which refer you to the Manage Settings menu (which is a dropdown in the current Illustrator CC) are just wrong. That's how you name a workspace when you initially create it, but there's no mechanism (there, at least) for saving externally.

You can't save the workspace by itself, but you can save *all* your settings (including the workspaces). Got to Edit > My Settings > Export Settings and pick a file location.

[chrisgv]

Yes! Thank you so much for this. I wanted to export my workspaces from an older version of AI to AICC and this worked great! Thanks for replying!

[Pseudothink]

Thank you @aih, using Edit > My Settings > Export Settings... is what I was looking for.  I was getting (and still am) rather confused why Window > Workspace > New Workspace... and Manage Workspaces... options are both disabled.  Didn't figure that one out, but I don't need to, now.  ❤️

[ChrisBats · Accepted solution]

My work is rolling out new laptops, and they really don't make things easy for us, so I started backing everything up - including all of my Illustrator Settings, Actions, and Keyboard Shortcuts. The only thing I could not find was Workspaces. Being curious, I found it saved in the AppData:

C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator 26 Settings\en_US\x64\Workspaces

I was able to copy it over to a shared drive with all my other back-up data.