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Graphic Styles

Overview

Graphic Styles

A Graphic Style is a set of appearance attributes (essentially what you see in the Appearance panel) that is named and saved in the document's Graphic Styles panel. You can then reuse the style, but only in that document. You can also save the styles in the Graphic Styles panel, in a Graphic Styles Library. Styles that are saved in a Library are saved in a separate facility and can be used in any document.

Styles from the Graphic Styles panel or from a Graphic Styles Library can be reused and applied to, not only paths of different structures, but also to objects of different kinds including Layers, Groups, and Type (text).

Illustration of Graphic Styles Panel
Graphic Styles Panel

The Graphics Styles panel is the command center for working with a document's Graphic Styles. It provides:

  • Access to the Libraries of Graphic Styles,
  • Several Default Styles. You can delete all but one of these: the default appearance of a closed path (white fill with black stroke). This Style is set by Illustrator's document template and cannot be deleted, and
  • A fly-out menu (accessible from the hamburger menu in the upper right of the pane)l. The options are listed below. The items in italics correspond to icons in the panel. The hyperlinked items require additional explanation provided below.

 

Example of a User Defined Library that was created by saving a Graphic Styles panel.
User Defined Library Created from the above Graphic Styles Panel

Graphic Styles Libraries

Illustrator provides a Graphic Styles Library facility. Each library is like a stored version of a Graphic Styles panel.  The Libraries Facility has two collections:

  • The Predefined Libraries Collection from which you can use Libraries, but to which you cannot add Libraries.
  • A User Defined Libraries Collection in which you can both use and add Libraries. These libraries are actually Illustrator (xxx.ai) files that contain only a version of the Graphic Styles panel. When you store a Library (xxx.ai) file in the User Defined Libraries Collection, Ai will display a link to the Library on the User Defined sub-menu of the Graphic Styles Libraries Menu.

You can actually store a User Defined Library (xxx.ai) file in any folder; however, if it is not in the User Defined Libraries Collection, the User Defined menu on the Graphic Styles Libraries Menu will not display links to the Library file. 

Typically, to create a new User Defined Library, you first clear out the Graphic Styles panel by: (A) using the Select All Unused command to select any unwanted styles in the panel and (B) delete them. Then you add to the panel the styles that you want to reuse, and finally, you use the Save Graphic Style Library command to save the Graphic Style panel as a new Library in the User Defined Library collection.

Using the Graphic Styles Panel

This section describes the functions of the Graphic Styles panel.

Create a Graphic Style

Illustration of saving a Style from the Appearance Panel to the Graphic Styles panel.
Saving a Style from the Appearance Panel to the Graphic Styles Panel

To create a Graphic Style using the Graphic Styles Panel in Adobe Illustrator (so that you can reuse it in future work in the same document), you typically use a model object, i.e., one that is displaying the Appearance attributes that you want to save. Here are the steps:

  1. Open the Graphic Styles panel.
  2. Optionally, click on the hamburger button at the top right of the Graphic Styles panel to open the flyout menu, execute the Select All Unused command, and click the Trash Can icon to delete the default styles.  Ai will preserve only the default style (white Fill and black Stroke).
  3. In the Appearance panel, select the model object, which will both Select and Target it. Ai will show its Attributes in the Appearance panel.
  4. Go to the thumbnail in the top row of the Appearance panel, which represents all of the Appearance Attributes of the Targeted object, and drag it to the Graphic Styles panel. Ai will create the Graphic Style and add a thumbnail representing the new style to the document's Graphic Styles panel.
  5. In the Graphic Styles panel, double click the new icon to launch the dialog box and give the new style a name.

Note:

Selecting the model object is just a way of getting Illustrator to target it so that Illustrator displays its attributes in the Appearance panel. Instead of using a model, you could, with no object selected, simply add the attributes that you want to save to the Appearance panel and then drag the Appearance panel's target thumbnail to the Graphic Styles panel.

However, if you use a model, as an alternative to step 3, you can simply drag the model object into the Graphic Styles panel, or you can Click the New Graphic Style (+) button. Ai will then add the style to the document and display the icon in the panel.

Nonetheless, as Mordy Golding points out in the "Saving appearances with graphic styles," section of his Illustrator: Rethinking the Essentials course at LinkedIn, dragging the thumbnail that represents all the appearance attributes into the Appearance panel represents exactly what you are doing, saving not the object, not its structure, but just its Appearance attributes.

Apply or Append a Graphic Style

You can apply or append a Style from the Graphic Styles panel to any object that is in the same document as the panel.

To apply a Style from the Graphic Style panel: in Adobe Illustrator:

  1. Select the object to which you want to apply the Style.
  2. Go to the document's Graphic Style panel and click the style. Ai will delete the object's current Style Attributes and replace them with the Attributes of the saved Style.

To append a Graphic Style panel Style to an object:

  1. Select the object.
  2. Go to the Graphic Styles panel, and Alt + Click the Style. Ai will not delete the object's current Attributes but will add the Style's attributes to those of the object.

Note

You can select all the objects in a document that have the same Style by selecting an object with the Style, and executing the Select > Same > Graphic Style command.

Create a Graphic Style for Text

Illustration of how the Appearance panel shows how Illustrator applies appearance attributes to Text by working from bottom to top.

The Appearance panel shows how Illustrator applies appearance attributes to Text by working from bottom to top.

To create a Graphic Style for a Type Object in Adobe Illustrator:

  1. Select the text. Ai's Smart Targeting will automatically target the Type object that contains the text. The Type object is a variant of a Group, that contains Characters rather than generic "Contents." The Appearance panel will show that Ai, has targeted the Type object not the Characters.
  2. In the Appearance panel, modify the appearance of the Type object (e.g., add additional Fills, Strokes, or Effects) until it is a model of the collection of Attributes that represents the Style that you want to reuse.
  3. Open the Graphic Styles panel.
  4. Optionally, click on the hamburger button at the top right of the Graphic Styles panel to open the flyout menu, execute the Select All Unused command, and click the Trash Can icon to delete the default styles.  Ai will preserve only the default style (white Fill and black Stroke).
  5. In the Appearance panel, drag the icon for the Target (the Type row at the top of the panel) into the Graphic Styles panel. Ai will:
    1. Create a new Graphic Style, and give it the default name Graphic Style.
    2. Make the object that you used as a model into an instance of the Graphic Style.
  6. Rename the Style (e.g. xxx). Ai will rename the Style not only in the Graphic Styles panel, but when you target the object that formerly was the model, its Target row in the Appearance panel will read "Type: xxx."

Edit a Graphic Style

Illustration of How to Edit and Redefine a Style in the Graphic Styles panel
Edit and Redefine a Style in the Graphic Styles Panel

To edit and redefine a Graphic Style in the Adobe Illustrator Graphic Styles panel:

  1. Select an instance of the Graphic Style (let's say it is called xx) that you want to redefine. Ai will load its attributes into the Appearance panel.
  2. With the instance still selected, edit the Attributes in the Appearance panel (Do not deselect and reselect the instance).
  3. Go to the Appearance panel flyout menu and click the Redefine Graphic Style xx option. Ai will retain the Style's name (xx), but will replace its attributes with those currently in the Appearance panel.

Graphic Styles Panel Flyout Menu Commands

Duplicate a Graphic Style

To duplicate one of the Styles in the Graphic Styles panel in Adobe Illustrator:

  1. Ensure that nothing is selected on the Artboard.
  2. In the Graphic Styles panel, select a Style (say it is named xxx). In the Appearance panel, Ai will change the top row (i.e., the Target row) to read "No Selection: xxx1."
  3. On the flyout menu, select the Duplicate Graphic Style command. Ai will add a new style with the same attributes as xxx, and name it xxx2.

Hint

You can now add, change, or delete the attributes of xxx2 by doing the following:

  1. In the Graphic Styles panel, select the Thumbnail for xxx2. In the Appearance panel, Ai will change the Target row to read "No Selection: xxx2."
  2. In the Appearance panel:
    1. Update xxx2's Appearance attributes.
    2. Go to the fly out menu and click the command "Redefine Graphic Style "xxx2."

Merge Graphic Styles

To combine the attributes of two Graphic Styles into one Style in Adobe Illustrator:

  1. Ensure that nothing is selected on the Artboard.
  2. In the Graphic Styles panel, Ctrl + Click on both Thumbnails to select them. Let us say they are named xxx1 and xxx2.
  3. On the flyout menu, select the Merge Graphic Styles command. Ai will add a new style with the same attributes as xxx1, and xxx2, and will pop up the Graphic Styles Options dialog box so that you can name the new merged style.

Hint

You can resolve any conflicts among the attributes of xxx1 and xxx2 as follows:

  1. In the Graphic Styles panel, select the Thumbnail for the new, merged Style. In the Appearance panel, Ai will change the Target row to read, for example: "No Selection: xxx1-xxx2."
  2. In the Appearance panel:
    1. Update the Appearance attributes for the merged Style (xxx1-xxx2).
    2. Go to the fly out menu and click the command "Redefine Graphic Style "xxx1-xxx2."

Select All Unused

To select all the Styles in the Graphic Styles panel that are not currently applied to some object in the document in Adobe Illustrator:

  1. Go to the flyout menu in the Graphic Styles panel and select the Select All Unused command.

You usually do this so that you can delete the unused styles, in preparation for saving the entire Graphic Styles panel as a Graphic Styles Library.

Override Character Color

Text characters live in a Group-like container, which Ai calls a Type object. When you apply a Graphic Style to text, you are applying the Style's Attributes, not to the characters, but to the Type object. When you apply a Graphic Style to text, by default, the fill color on the Type object will override the color in the characters inside it, and change the color of the text. However, you can tell the Graphic Styles panel to leave the text color as is.

To preserve the text (Fill) color when applying a Graphic Style to text in Adobe Illustrator:

  1. Go to the flyout menu in the Graphic Styles panel and uncheck the Override Character Color option.
  2. Select the text on the Artboard.
  3. Go to the Graphic Styles panel and click the Style that you want to apply to the Selected text.

Using Graphic Style Libraries Collections

This section describes how to:

  • Apply the styles in the Predefined or User Defined Graphic Styles Libraries, and
  • Create or delete members of the User Defined Graphic Styles Libraries.

Apply a Style from a Graphic Style Library

Illustration of the Graphic Styles Libraries Menu
Graphic Styles Libraries Menu

To apply a style from a Graphic Style Library in Adobe Illustrator:

  1. Click the Graphic Styles Library icon at the bottom of the Graphic Styles panel. Ai will open a dropdown menu that displays:
    1. A Save Graphic Styles link that allows you to save the entire Graphic Style panel as a Library in the User Defined Libraries Collection.
    2. A list of links to all the libraries in the Predefined Libraries collection,
    3. User Defined, which displays a list of links to the User Defined Libraries, and
    4. Other Library, which when clicked, opens a File Explorer window from which you can open Libraries that have been saved as Illustrator (xxx.ai) files.
  2. Click on one of the Predefined Library links or one of the User Defined Library links to open a Library. Ai will display (in addition to the Graphic Styles panel) a separate Opened Graphic Styles Libraries panel that shows the Styles in the just-opened library.
    Example of a User Defined Styles Library and three Predefined Style Libraries opened in the Opened Graphic Styles Libraries panel.
    Example of a User Defined Styles Library and three Predefined Style Libraries opened in the Opened Graphic Styles Libraries panel.
  3. In the Open Graphic Styles Libraries panel, you can either drag styles to the Graphic Styles panel and use it later, or apply it to an object directly from the Open Graphic Styles Libraries panel. If you select an object and then click one of the Styles in the Open Graphic Styles Libraries panel, Ai will not only apply the Style to the object, but will also automatically copy the Style to the Graphic Styles panel.

Create a User Defined Graphic Style Library

Illustration of the Menus involved in Creating a User Defined Library

Menus involved in Creating a User Defined Library

Creating a new User Defined Graphic Style Library, is simply a matter of making a custom Graphic Styles panel and saving it in a special file folder that constitutes the User Defined Graphic Style Library Collection.

To create a new User Defined Graphic Style Library in Adobe Illustrator:

  1. Empty the Graphic Styles panel of any styles that you to not want to be part of your new User Defined Library:
    1. Click the hamburger button in the upper right corner of the Graphic Styles panel and execute the Select All Unused command. Ai will select all the rows of Styles that have not been applied to any object in the document.
    2. Press the delete key to delete all the unused Styles.
    3. Define and Save in the Graphic Styles panel, all the Styles that you want to save in your new User Defined Library.
  2. Click the Graphic Styles Libraries Menu icon at the bottom of the Graphic Styles panel. Ai will open a menu.
  3. On the menu click, the first item to execute the Save Graphic Style to Library command. Ai will open a file that constitutes its User Defined Graphic Style Library Collection. For example, on Windows, Ai will open a File Explorer window (with the title "Save Graphic Styles in Library," which is open to the folder \AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator 25 Settings\en_US\x64\Graphic Styles.
  4. Give the file a name (xxx.ai) and click the Save button. Ai will add the name (xxx) to the list of files that it displays when you click the User Defined item at the bottom of the Graphic Styles Libraries menu.  

Delete a User Defined Graphic Style Library

To delete a Library in the User Defined Graphic Style Collection in Adobe Illustrator:

  1. Navigate to the special User Defined Library Collection folder. For example, on Windows, go to your Local Disc (C:) > Users > your user name > AppDate Roaming > Adobe > Adobe Illustrator 25 Settings > en_US > x64 > Graphic Styles folder.
  2. Select the xxx.ai file that corresponds to the Library that you want to delete.
  3. Press the Delete-key.

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