Removing style overrides


    A plus sign next to the style name indicates that there are overrides to the style. An override is any formatting that doesn't match the attributes defined by the style. There are several ways to remove style overrides:

    • To clear overrides and return text to the appearance defined by the style, reapply the same style or use the Clear Overrides command.
    • To maintain the current appearance of the text, redefine the style to match the attributes of the text.

    If you use styles to maintain the consistent formatting of text, you'll probably want to avoid overrides. If you're formatting quick, one-time-only text, these overrides pose no problem.

To clear overrides:

  1. Select the characters or paragraphs containing the overrides you want to clear.
  2. Do one of the following:
    • Choose Clear Overrides from the palette menu.
    • Reapply the same style by clicking the highlighted style name.

    Note: When you apply a different style to text that has overrides, Illustrator preserves the overrides. To clear overrides when applying a different style, Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac OS) the style name.

To redefine a style:

  1. Using the Type tool, select the text formatted with the style you want to redefine.
  2. Make changes to the paragraph or character attributes.
  3. Do one of the following:
    • Choose Redefine Character Style in the Character Styles palette.
    • Choose Redefine Paragraph Style from the Paragraph Styles palette menu.