Smart object feature in Illustrator?

[Jenny Troester]

Is there a feature in Illustrator that can handle "smart objects" like Photoshop? Working with a client that repeats the same design multiple times in single illustrator file. ( this would be easy in InDesign but Client won't switch) making edits is time consuming as each version of the design needs to have the edits made or replaced. Would love a feature like smart object in PSD that I can edit once and effect all versions in the file. Thank you!

[Barb Binder · Accepted solution]

What about putting that design in a CC Library?

• Linked Assets: Edit once - update everywhere.
  Always use the latest iteration or version of your asset with Linked Assets. No matter where your asset is used, if you edit the Library copy, all your projects are updated with the edited asset. Adobe CreativeSync ensures that you get the right and updated asset – each time you reuse assets across desktop and mobile projects.

[Kurt Gold]

You are not stating what version of Illustrator you are using.

Another way in older (and recent) versions of Illustrator would be using symbols. Depends on what exactly you are looking for, of course.

[trashcaneron]

Symbols solved it for me. Was looking for a tool similar to Photoshop's smart objects in Illustrator and this worked nicely. It adds to your symbol library but it does the trick! 

[Jenny Troester]

Using CC2016. I'll try both ways and see which is more efficient for workflow and factory usage. Thank you so much for taking the time to ask the question and give ideas to try out. Thanks!

[scottp17355564]

Its different logic for Illustrator vs Photoshop (from my current workflow with my teams). As in PS, you can drag the object to the Libraries panel and it converts the asset as a 'smart object cloud icon' in the actual layers in PS. You can double click the smart object in either the libraries panel or in the actual file to make edits to the original graphics.

However, in Illustrator, you'll need to drag the assets to the library, then drag them back to your file in order to create a 'linked smart object'. Just dragging the asset to the library does not make it a linked object.