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Use the Canto Adobe Connector with Illustrator


The Canto Adobe Connector enables you to access your Canto account directly from within Adobe Illustrator.


Make sure that you have installed the latest version of our Canto Connector in order to use all the described features.


This is an add-on integration. Please contact your account manager or submit a support ticket for pricing.


Restriction: You need to be signed in using an administrator's account or be granted the respective permission by an admin in order to use these functions.


How to navigate to the Connector within Illustrator

Window > Extensions > Canto Connector


How to sign in to Canto from within Illustrator

  1. In Illustrator, navigate to Window > Extensions > CantoConnector.
  2. Enter your Canto URL from the pop-up menu and confirm this selection.
  3. There are two options to sign in, depending if your user account has been created in Canto or in your Identity Provider (using SSO).

    Login using Canto account: 
    Enter your Canto account credentials and click on Sign In if your user account has been created in Canto.Login using SSO account:
    Enter your tenant name only and click on Login with SSO if your user account has been created in your Identity Provider.
  4. Select the desired library from the drop-down menu and confirm this selection and access to your Canto account with Allow.
  5. If everything works, you will receive the following confirmation:
  6. You can now close the window and return to Illustrator.
  7. In the next section you will learn how to open the Connector in the application.

How to use the Adobe Connector

Make sure you are signed in to Canto (via Window > Extensions > Canto Connector).

How to add an asset to your Illustrator project

Note: Files from your Cold Storage cannot be added.

  1. With the Canto tab selected you can browse through your Folder Tree to look for the asset(s) you would like to work with.
  2. Select the desired folder/album.
  3. Click on the arrow to hide the folder tree in order to view more files at once.
  4. Alternatively, you can perform a Global Search by selecting the magnifying glass or filtering your files by keywords, tags, and approval status by clicking on the filter-icon next to the search bar.Note: For performing a search with exact match, please put the file name in quotation marks (" ").
  5. Hover over an asset click on the circle in the top right-hand corner of the asset to select it.
    Tip: You are able to select multiple files at once.
  6. Choose between Place as Layers or Add as Files.
    Note: When you insert an image that already lives in Canto to Photoshop, Canto will automatically create and display the inserted images as related files.

How to switch to a portal/workflow

  1. Within the Connector navigate to Configuration > Logout.
  2. Sign in again and select the environment you would like to be displayed in your Connector.
  3. Click Allow.

Functions Breakdown

Canto Tab

No asset selected

  1. Hide/display folder tree
  2. Global search
  3. Filter
  4. Folder tree sorting options
  5. Refresh folder tree/album content
  6. File types (all files, images, videos, audio)
  7. Thumbnail size
    Note: Not supported in list view. 
  8. View options
  9. Folder/album content sorting options


With asset(s) selected

  1. Amount of selected items
  2. Deselect all
  3. Place asset(s) as layers
  4. Add asset(s) as files
  5. Deselect all


Detailed single asset view

  1. Previous asset
  2. Next asset
  3. Close preview
  4. Import asset into Premiere Pro


Upload Tab

  1. After you save your file locally, you may upload it back to Canto as a New Version of the original asset
  2. Or you may upload the edited asset as a New File in your Canto library
  3. Browse your computer to locate the file you want to upload into Canto
  4. Upload the asset into your Canto library


Configuration Tab

  1. Shows you your user name
  2. Launch Canto in your web browser
  3. Clear cache removes downloaded files from your local drive.
  4. Configuration is divided into three tabs (see below - General Tab; Tooltip & Preview Page Tab
  5. Logout/change your Canto environment (see further information above - How to switch to a portal/workflow)
  6. See which version of the Canto Connector you are currently using

General Tab

Here you can set the default resolution for the import.

You may want to assign a different location for your assets' cache. Be sure to follow the instructions prompted and to close and restart the extension for the changes to take effect.


Tooltip & Preview Page & List View Tab

Here you can configure which metadata fields you would like to see when hovering over an asset's thumbnail or when previewing the asset.


Filter Panel

Here you can configure your filter panel layout. Simply move any field from the available section over to the displayed section by clicking on the plus symbol. In order to remove a field from the displayed section click on the X.

You can arrange the order of your displayed filter options via drag & drop and determine whether a field should be displayed collapsed or expanded by default.


Video: Use the Adobe Connector with Illustrator


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