Creating symbolsYou can create symbols from any Illustrator art object, including paths, compound paths, text, raster images, mesh objects, and groups of objects. (However, you cannot use nonembedded placed art as a symbol, nor can you use some groups, such as groups of graphs.) Symbols may also include active objects, such as brush strokes, blends, effects, or other symbol instances in a symbol. You can use the Symbols palette as a database for your artwork--to recover the original definition with all of its active elements, simply expand a symbol instance. You can modify the symbol instances and automatically update the original symbol art with your edits. To create new symbols from existing symbols, duplicate a symbol and edit it. To create a symbol:
To duplicate a symbol in the Symbols palette:
In the Symbols palette, do one of the following: |