Dec 10 2008
Setting Illustrator Defaults
I recently received this question:
“In Illustrator, is there a way to take off the default setting of “Lock Guides”? I’d also like to display rulers automatically. I know it doesn’t take long to unlock guides or display rulers, but it would be nice to make these the default settings.”
There is a way to control some aspects of Illustrator, and while it may seem a bit long-winded, it’s actually a pretty simple undertaking. You may decide it’s just saner to change such things when you open a new file, but if you’re curious …
Illustrator uses startup files to “wake up,” one for CMYK documents, one for RGB, and in later versions, one for Web, and so on. Notice that when you start a new document, you’re always asked which flavor you want. When you make your choice, Illustrator uses the appropriate file as a reference. These startup files are really just Illustrator documents that Illustrator “consults” as it creates your new blank document. Change the behavior of a startup file, and all the files based on that startup file will behave the same.
To do this, you must first find those little startup rascals, which can be a challenge: different versions of Illustrator call the startup files by different names, and store them in different locations.
Illustrator CS2:
Mac: Applications/Adobe Illustrator CS2/Plug-ins
Windows: Programs\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator CS2\Plug-ins
There are only two startup files, called “Adobe Illustrator Startup_CMYK.ai” and “Adobe Illustrator Startup_RGB.ai”.
In Illustrator CS3 and CS4, the startup files are called “New Document Profiles,” and there are additional options. In CS3 and CS4, the files are:
Basic CMYK.ai
Basic RGB.ai
Mobile and Devices.ai
Print.ai
Video and Film.ai
Web.ai
To find the startup files in CS3 and CS4, follow these directions:
Illustrator CS3:
Mac: [user]/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Adobe Illustrator CS3/New Document Profiles/
Windows: Documents and Settings\(User)\Application Data\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator CS3 Settings\New Document Profiles\
Illustrator CS4:
Mac: [user]/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Adobe Illustrator CS4/en_US/New Document Profiles/
Windows: Documents and Settings\(User)\Application Data\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator CS4 Settings\en_US\New Document Profiles\
Once you locate the startup file, make a duplicate of the file in another directory for safety. Open the original file, and make the desired changes; for example, to always have unlocked guides as the default behavior, choose Guides > Unlock Guides. If you’d like to always see rulers, choose View>Rulers. You can also add Swatches. But you can’t control everything: some changes — such as stroke weight and font choice — aren’t retained.
Save and close the file; you don’t have to relaunch Illustrator. Now, when you make a new file based on the modified startup file, it will reflect your new settings. And if you don’t like the results, just drag the untouched duplicate file back where you found it, and you’re back to the factory settings.
Just what I needed. Thanks for documenting this out.
Nice trick,
I’d like to ask another problem that i faced.
I have a lot of .svg files which i ve to change with illustrator CS3 and i’m changing configuration of page ( show rulers, snap to grid etc. ) for every file.
Is it possible to assign a default configuration for that unopened files.
Thanks
You can create Actions in Illustrator; this would do what you want very quickly. Choose Window>Actions to display the Actions panel. Click the “New Action” icon at the bottom to begin. Since what you want to do is invoke menu commands, go to the Actions panel menu and choose “Insert Menu Item,” and follow the instructions. Add the “View>Show Rulers” menu item, and all the other things you want to do.
To run the Action on multiple files, choose “Batch” from the panel menu, and choose the folder containing the files. If you want to overwrite them, choose the “Save and Close” option.
Hope this helps!
I hade the same problem with cs5, How can i work that problem. Thanks for all your help! Greetings, Jan holland
John,
Which problem are you having in Illustrator CS5?
-Claudia
Make sure the permissions for the the directory is set to ‘Read & Write’. The installers have been mucking this up for some Suite products.
Mac: [user]/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Adobe Illustrator CS5/en_US*/New Document Profiles/
Windows: Documents and Settings\(User)\Application Data\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator CS5 Settings\en_US*\New Document Profiles\
* this depends on the language chosen during install
cheers!
Steve, thanks for the tech tip; I hadn’t run across any difficulties doing this, but I’ll remember this if anyone hits the wall trying to do so.