Treat images like InDesign with a bounding box and cropping with no extra work.

[csscms]

Hi There, the title says it all.

We need an option that auto-places imported images into a bounding box that can be cropped by dragging handles, and offer frame and corner options with no extra work - just copy the way InDesign does it.

Currently, you have to use clipping masks, or that silly crop tool which resets the crop everytime you use it. Both are convolute and cumbersome workarounds for something as common and basic as cropping images (especially in 2025).

Hope that makes sense. Cheers, Ben

[Monika Gause]

Looks like you want to place a looooooot of images. Illustrator is probably not the right tool for your task - maybe use InDesign.

And I do not understand the point about "resetting the crop every time you use it". Can you elaborate?

[csscms]

@Monika Gause Thanks Monika, I’m using Illustrator in this context for quick design iteration, so only around 10–15 placeholder images. I much prefer InDesign but for this use case, Illustrator has turned out to be much faster.

Crop reset: if you use the crop tool (top bar) and try to adjust it later, the handles reset so you have to start over. It’s pointless. Masks (what I'm using) have their own workflow issues.

But why not have basic cropping and consistency between apps? I use six Adobe apps all day, every day (some for 25+ years), and it’s shocking how many core functions differ. It wastes time for users, and the Adobe teams creating them.

It probably dosn't help that I'm a designer, so Adobe's glaring design inconsistencies stab me in the eyes all day! But that doesn't mean fundamental design inconsistencies shouldn't get fixed - right?

[Monika Gause]

WHen you apply the crop, then it cuts off the cropped areas permanentsl. Is that what you refer to?

Or are you referring to the part of the image that it automatically selects for cropping? That can be turned off in the preferences by turning off the Content Aware defaults.

[csscms]

The request is to implement an InDesign-like image workflow in Illustrator...

• Images have a croppable frame by default, no extra work
• You can select a frame and import an image directly into it
• You get commands to scale/fit images to the frame, and frame to image + shortcuts
• There's all the frame options you'd expect like points, handles, strokes, corners etc
• We can right-click an image to reveal it in the Finder!

Sure, we workaround it but it requires extra steps, compromises, and wasted time.

Adobe already solved this and it's faster, better, and more consistent (in most circumstances). Keep what we have but add to it. I mean, Adobe wroite the book so this is all standard + pretty basic in 2025 - right?

Hope that makes more sense. Cheers

[Monika Gause]

you are comparing 2 applications that have been developed 20 years apart. They have a completely different code base and a different paradigm. Illustrator is not a frame based application.

[csscms]

@Monika Gause And that's why we end-up with a suite of applications that all behave like they were developed 20 years apart - you couldn't even import images into Illustrator when I started.

It just takes a little bit of vision, and a little bit of leadership - there's no question they have a decade's worth of profits to pay for it.

[Ton Frederiks]

"you couldn't even import images into Illustrator when I started"

It was always possible to import images in Illustrator, even in Illustrator 1.0

[csscms]

@Ton Frederiks @Monika Gause  My bad - I was taught never to use images until v5.

I'm truly not being facetious when I ask, but are Adobe Community Experts the gate keepers for feature requests, and is this where resistance for more consistency between apps comes from?

For example, do you guys find it frustrating that basic tasks work great in one app, but the exact same task wastes time in another?

And do you guys seriously believe that basic importing, cropping, linking, and round-trip editing of images in Illustrator shouldn't be standardised - and do you believe there's no hope for people who want to see basics like these standardised between apps?

Please don't take the questions the wrong way, I'm genuinely trying to understand.

[Monika Gause · Accepted solution]

These are public forums and everyone can contribute and if someone doesn't favor what someone else is posting, then they will discuss about it. And as long as everyone keeps it according to the rules, then there is nothing objectionable about it.

If you have feature requests, you might want to post them over there: https://illustrator.uservoice.com

That is where the engineers read your requests. In this forum everyone will just discuss what you are writing.

[Ton Frederiks]

We are not gatekeepers and don't decide what feature requests are accepted and how the Adobe apps work.

Who isn't in favor of a smooth working together of Adobe apps, but as Monika suggested, UserVoice is the place for those feature requests.

[csscms]

@Monika Gause @Ton Frederiks Thanks guys, will post to UserVoice instead. Cheers