Edit or redefine a symbol – Adobe Illustrator CS3 User Manual

Page 92

ILLUSTRATOR CS3

User Guide

Do one of the following:

•

Click the Break Link To Symbol button

in the Symbols panel or Control panel, or choose Break Link To

Symbol from the panel menu.

•

Choose Object > Expand, and then click OK in the Expand dialog box.

Illustrator places the components of the symbol instance in a group. Once expanded, you can edit the artwork.

Duplicate a symbol instance on the artboard

If you’ve scaled, rotated, sheared (or skewed), or reflected a symbol instance and you want to add more instances with
exactly those same modifications, duplicate the modified instance.

Select the symbol instance.

Do one of the following:

•

Alt-drag (Windows) or Option-drag (Mac OS) the symbol instance to another location on the artboard.

•

Copy and paste the symbol instance.

Note: If you want to duplicate a symbol in the Symbols panel, for example to create a new symbol based on an existing
symbol, duplicate the symbol, not the instance. (See “Symbols panel overview” on page 83.)

Replace a symbol instance with a different symbol

Select the symbol instance on the artboard.

Do one of the following:

•

Choose a new symbol from the Replace menu in the Control panel.

•

Select a new symbol in the Symbols panel, and choose Replace Symbol from the Symbols panel menu.

Select all instances of a symbol in the document

❖

Select a symbol in the Symbols panel, and then choose Select All Instances from the panel menu.

Edit or redefine a symbol

You can edit a symbol by changing the symbol’s artwork or you can redefine the symbol by replacing it with new
artwork. Editing and redefining a symbol changes the appearance of the symbol in the Symbols panel, as well as all
instances of the symbol on the artboard.

Edit a symbol

Do one of the following to open the symbol in isolation mode:

•

Select an instance of the symbol and click Edit Symbol in the Control panel. When the Alert box opens, click OK.

•

Double-click an instance of the symbol. When the Alert box opens, click OK.

•

Double-click a symbol in the Symbols panel. A temporary instance of the symbol appears in the center of the
artboard.

Edit the artwork.

Exit isolation mode by clicking the Exit Isolation Mode button

at the upper-left corner of the artboard or in

the Control panel .