Backbone has now harnessed the power of Illustrator through our new Adobe Illustrator Plugin!
Key Benefits:
Seamless file transfer
No more manual uploads! Sync design files within Illustrator directly to Backbone.
Updates are easy
Compare and replace existing images with updated versions whenever changes are made.
Track version history
Easily keep track of design revisions and iterations.
Drive user engagement
Reduce the friction for the designer to utilize backbone and drastically improve their workflow.
How to download the Backbone Adobe Plugin:
Before getting started, check your version of Adobe Illustrator. You must have version 26 or higher in order to install the Backbone + Adobe plugin.
Next, in your internet browser, navigate to exchange.adobe.com and click on Adobe Creative Cloud
Using the search bar in the center of the page labeled “Search Marketplace” search for Backbone
Click the icon listed as Backbone PLM for Adobe Illustrator and follow the prompts to install the extension.
Be sure to quit Adobe Illustrator before doing this or you will be prompted to do so anyway.
Once installed, open Adobe Illustrator and navigate to the Window tab and scroll down to Extensions
Enter your Backbone username and password
How to use Adobe Illustrator Plugin with Backbone:
Once the Adobe Illustrator Plugin is installed, an Illustrator window will appear that lists all your Products and Components via two tabs at the top.
You can use the search bar to find your Products or Components and then click on the one you want to add to or update:
Once you click on the Products and Components, a new window appears that allows you to upload the current .ai file directly into Backbone without leaving your workspace by clicking on Add This File:
Another new window will appear in the middle of your Adobe Illustrator workspace that allows you to optionally rename your artboard(s) and then upload to Backbone.
When ready, click the Upload button and wait for the file to load.
It will prompt you with an “Upload Complete” screen where you can click Finish:
Open up the Plugin Extension Window from earlier, where you’ll find your artboard(s) appear under a tab for the Products and Component you selected.
Two icons appear just below the name, date, time and user. These represent the number of artboards in this set of files, and the number of versions for that set of files.
Clicking on either icon will bring you to a window to review the artboards that were uploaded, all versions of the file, the last update, and an ability to manually update.
By hovering over any version and clicking the 3 dot ellipsis, you can re-open or name these versions
If you choose open, it will ask you where to save the version so you can open and access it.
You also have the ability at the top to update this file in case you need to make changes that you want to be reflected in Backbone.
If you choose to update the file:
A window appears to choose an Action and Image to Replace for each artboard in your file.
This is optional for only those artboards you wish to update and is not required for each artboard if no changes are being made.
You will be able to see the current Backbone Image along with the Updated Artboard for each.
On the right, you will see two sections called Pending and Trash.
Pending is an area that allows you to move artboard images around. For example, if the desire was to move Artboard Test B to Artboard Test A then Artboard Test A can be dragged to pending and Artboard Test B can be moved into the Artboard Test A empty slot.
You also have the ability to delete existing BB files from here, if you want to delete Backbone .AI artboards connected to Illustrator via the extension, they MUST be deleted in this manner.
When it’s all said in done, navigate to Backbone, find the Product you uploaded the image to, and you can see either the addition or update.