TUTORIAL ARTICLE

Beginner

1 min

How to work with Photoshop and Illustrator files in Adobe Express

Effortlessly incorporate files from Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop in your social and marketing files.

What you’ll need

How it works

Add linked Illustrator and Photoshop assets

You can add any Illustrator or Photoshop asset to your Adobe Express design. Once added, it will automatically link, and edits you make to it in Photoshop or Illustrator can be synced directly in Adobe Express, so your design always reflects your latest changes. Customize your Adobe Express design with a logo, text, design elements, and more. You can even duplicate and resize each page to create a multi-channel campaign.

In the Adobe Express Editor, click the Media tab on the left. Then click the Upload from device button to add your PSD or AI file. When your content — say a product image — is added to your file, a copy is saved to Creative Cloud and linked to that copy.

Need to make a change to the graphic? Click the Open in... button to edit the linked Photoshop or Illustrator asset. When you save the changes and return to Adobe Express, a blue toast appears on the bottom of the Editor alerting you that your linked assets have changed.

You can sync the linked asset in Adobe Express with new changes by selecting Update. The linked asset will update in every instance it appears in your design. So, if you’ve created a multi-channel campaign that uses your linked asset, each asset in your campaign will update instantly — no need to update each one at a time.

Access Illustrator and Photoshop files from Your stuff

Illustrator and Photoshop content stored in your Creative Cloud folder or library can be easily added to your Adobe Express designs.

In the Editor, click Your stuff on the left to show your Creative Cloud files ( Files tab) or the content from your libraries ( Brands & Libraries tab). Select and drag your Illustrator or Photoshop artwork into the Editor. Now you can scale and reposition this content anywhere in your new design. And you can always edit the original Cloud Doc Illustrator or Photoshop file by selecting the linked asset and then clicking the Open in... button on the left panel. To edit the library asset, navigate to Photoshop or Illustrator and open the asset from your library.

Turn Photoshop and Illustrator files into Adobe Express files

You can also jumpstart your design by using Illustrator or Photoshop files as a starting point in Adobe Express.

When you add an asset directly into the Editor, it becomes a static graphic. If you want to rearrange individual elements, you can do so in Photoshop or Illustrator and then sync them individually in Express. However, you can also transform an asset into a dynamic Adobe Express file, which you can then edit within Adobe Express.

Follow these instructions to create an Adobe Express file from an existing Photoshop or Illustrator file.

Start from your content in the Get Started section.

Or click the Plus (+) at the top of the left navigation panel on the home screen.

You can upload Photoshop files (PSD), Illustrator files (AI), or PDF documents. Once added, the file is opened and converted to an Adobe Express file with all the elements editable. Now you can quickly make changes to the files within Adobe Express — edit the text, scale and move elements, change colors, replace the background, and add your own media.

If your added file contains multiple artboards, each artboard is converted into a Page in your Adobe Express file. Layers are also converted and added, preserving each layer in the order of the original file.

Instruction by

Brian Wood

Design from

Adobe Express template

June 30, 2023

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