Illustrator Version 23 -

Before v23, cropping an image in Illustrator was destructive or required a clunky mask. Version 23 introduced a smarter crop widget that used Adobe Sensei (AI) to analyze the image. It would automatically suggest removing empty space or "bleed" areas. For packaging and layout designers, this was a massive time-saver.

Adobe rewrote the Pencil tool’s engine. In v23, you could finally draw rough shapes, and Illustrator would smooth them in real-time based on your stroke speed. It also allowed you to extend or merge paths simply by drawing over the endpoints. This turned the Pencil from a "shaky hand" disaster into a viable vector sketch tool. illustrator version 23

In previous versions, cropping an image or artwork was a destructive, clumsy process. Version 23 introduced a Photoshop-like Crop tool for embedded images. Before v23, cropping an image in Illustrator was