Using the Appearance palette


    When you select an object, the Appearance palette displays the attributes associated with that object. Fills and strokes are listed in stacking order; top to bottom in the palette correlates to front to back in the artwork. Effects are listed from top to bottom in the order in which they are applied to the artwork. You can change the stacking order of attributes and edit the properties of any attribute. For general information on using palettes, see Using palettes.

    When you select a single object, the Appearance palette displays the attributes associated with that object; when you select some types of containers, such as a layer or group, the Appearance palette displays a Contents item which you can double-click to reveal the contained items; when you select a text object, the palette displays a Characters item which you can double-click to list the character attributes.

    Illustration of Appearance palette listing attributes of a grouped object with these callouts: A. Object with stroke, fill, and drop shadow effect B. Layer with transparency C. Group with effect D. Stroke with roughen effect E. New Art (Maintains/Has Basic) Appearance button F. Clear Appearance button G. Reduce to Basic Appearance button H. Duplicate Selected Item button
    Appearance palette listing attributes of a grouped object A. Object with stroke, fill, and drop shadow effect B. Layer with transparency C. Group with effect D. Stroke with roughen effect E. New Art (Maintains/Has Basic) Appearance button F. Clear Appearance button G. Reduce to Basic Appearance button H. Duplicate Selected Item button

    Displaying the Appearance palette

    Choose Window > Appearance.

    Using the Appearance palette menu

    Click the triangle triangle icon in the upper right corner of the palette.

    Showing and hiding thumbnails

    Choose Show Thumbnail or Hide Thumbnail from the Appearance palette menu.

    Displaying attributes in the Appearance palette

    Select an object or container. The attributes of the selected item appear in the Appearance palette. If the item is a container (such as a layer or group), double-click the word Contents in the Appearance palette to list the artwork in the container. Click the name of the container to redisplay its attributes.

    Expanding and collapsing fills and strokes

    Click the triangle Triangle icon to the left of the fill or stroke in the Appearance palette to see the item's additional properties. Click again to collapse the fill or stroke. The triangle appears when the fill or stroke has properties other than a color or a stroke size.