For nearly two decades, designers manually calculated vertical centering. Illustrator 2021 finally introduced Align to Top, Middle, and Bottom for area text boxes. This was a buried feature in the Paragraph panel's "More Options" menu.
For designers who value speed over gimmicks, Illustrator 2021 (specifically v25.3) remains the gold standard of modern vector editing. It is the "Windows 7 of Illustrator"—polished, powerful, and respectful of your system resources. Looking for a specific version history for 2022 or 2023? Check back for our ongoing series covering every Adobe Illustrator release since 1987. adobe illustrator 2021 version history
It was the first version to treat the cloud not as a backup, but as a primary workspace. It was the first version to run natively on Apple Silicon, guaranteeing its relevance for the next decade. And it was the last version where the Pen tool was the undisputed king—before the rise of 3D, Intertwine, and generative AI features that would dominate version 26 and beyond. For designers who value speed over gimmicks, Illustrator