Linked styles, swatches, libraries - how?

[nekton84627333]

Hi! I design websites and interfaces in AI. The problem is that I want to manage one set of styles and colors over several AI files.

Of course I can just draw everything inside one AI file, but I need much more room and artboards than Illustrator provides, and I don't want to hide excessive material in layers.

So the problem is really simple but seems impossible to solve: I want character & paragraph styles, swatches, symbols and whatever to be linked to a separate AI (or other format) file. Keyword here is linked, so when I modify those linked libraries the changes of styles and colors would apply to every design that has those linked libraries.

Of course I can just write my own script, or plugin, or application... But I'm not a programmer. Does anyone know - are the solutions of such problem out there?

Thank you!

[sishamIAGD]

Firstly what version of Illustrator do you use..?

And secondly have you tried using Libraries?

Manage assets with Creative Cloud Libraries |

If you create your assets then drag them into the libraries panel you can then update in one place and it will update wherever you have used them.

[nekton84627333]

sishamDSS​

Thank you for your answer. This is teriffic actually, and no, I never used any of online integration stuff since it irritates me (it lags and I was doing fine without it since year 2000). I feel so old lol.

Yeah, this is a good reason to try it out, BUT: what about team working? How must I build the work flow if not only me works with the AI files, but atleast a front-end developer or two. Does this mean I'll have to give them my login/password to my CC account so they'd automatically receive updates on my libraries?

And another question - is there any offline way to sync libraries applied to multiple separate ai files? I mean, basically this CC feature is exactly what I needed - libraries are linked, by they are located on a remote server. Is this the only way? Can't I emulate same feature on a local server so I don't have to store all this stuff in an online account but in local files instead?

I hope I explain this stuff well, pardon my English - I'm not a native speaker.

[Monika Gause]

You can share libraries with other people.

Creative Cloud libraries - how to collaborate, sync, and share Illustrator assets

[nekton84627333]

Monika, thank you, and would you be so kind to comment this bonus question:

Monika Gause

And another question - is there any offline way to sync libraries applied to multiple separate ai files? I mean, basically this CC feature is exactly what I needed - libraries are linked, by they are located on a remote server. Is this the only way? Can't I emulate same feature on a local server so I don't have to store all this stuff in an online account but in local files instead?

[Doug A Roberts]

i use CC libraries for symbols with my team. it's worked pretty well so far, but i haven't tried with swatches. and you can't use graphic styles, which would be very useful.

i'm afraid i don't know of a way you could do the same thing hosting the file yourself.

[nekton84627333]

Guys, I try this and it doesn't work. Simple experiment:

I create a character style, let's say it's name is "Body-text" and it's black colored. I add it to my CC library. Then I apply it in another document, using the CC Library. During this the style automatically adds to "Character styles" panel as well. Now two of my AI files use this style.

So I want to change "Body-text" style to RED color instead of black. I redefine it in the "Character styles" panel, but how do I update it in CC Library? It doesn't offer any redefining or editing options in the CC Library panel. Adding the edited style CC Library just creates a same named duplicate (it doesn't even warn me that the chosen CC Library already has a style with same name), and that's all. I can then apply this duplicate in my other document and Illustrator will ask me if I want to override the same named style in the "Character styles" panel, but this is not what I need.

So I end up with two duplicates in my CC Library and one embedded style in each document. How do I modify a style in my CC Library and make the changes apply in my AI files automatically? I mean, I may have tens and hundreds of assets that need to be modified and updated, there must be an automatic way to update them, right? Or I really have to manually reapply the styles from CC Library and override the document styles? With duplicates?

Please help, thank you very much!

[Ton Frederiks]

I don't think there is a solution as far as I can see.

Currently libraries are not able to function as a central place to manage styles, swatches across document.

Libraries are nice to add styles to a document when objects are placed embedded, but then they are not linked.

If you place styled objects linked, the styles and most swatches are not added.

Linked styles, swatches and libraries would be a good feature request:

Illustrator Feature Request/Bug Report Form

[nekton84627333]

dougofakkad​

Monika Gause​

sishamDSS​

Guys, I try this and it doesn't work. Simple experiment:

I create a character style, let's say it's name is "Body-text" and it's black colored. I add it to my CC library. Then I apply it in another document, using the CC Library. During this the style automatically adds to "Character styles" panel as well. Now two of my AI files use this style.

So I want to change "Body-text" style to RED color instead of black. I redefine it in the "Character styles" panel, but how do I update it in CC Library? It doesn't offer any redefining or editing options in the CC Library panel. Adding the edited style CC Library just creates a same named duplicate (it doesn't even warn me that the chosen CC Library already has a style with same name), and that's all. I can then apply this duplicate in my other document and Illustrator will ask me if I want to override the same named style in the "Character styles" panel, but this is not what I need.

So I end up with two duplicates in my CC Library and one embedded style in each document. How do I modify a style in my CC Library and make the changes apply in my AI files automatically? I mean, I may have tens and hundreds of assets that need to be modified and updated, there must be an automatic way to update them, right? Or I really have to manually reapply the styles from CC Library and override the document styles? With duplicates?

Please help, thank you very much!