Illustrator

Work with symbol instances

You can move, scale, rotate, shear (or skew), or reflect symbol instances in the same way you can other objects. You can also perform any operation from the Transparency, Appearance, and Graphic Styles panels and apply any effect from the Effect menu. However, if you want to modify the individual components of a symbol instance, you must first expand it. Expanding breaks the link between the symbol and the symbol instance and converts the instance to regular artwork.

For videos on selecting and aligning objects, including symbols, see www.adobe.com/go/vid0034 and www.adobe.com/go/vid0035.

Modify a symbol instance

After you modify a symbol instance, you can redefine the original symbol in the Symbols panel. When you redefine a symbol, all existing symbol instances take on the new definition.

  1. Select an instance of the symbol.
  2. Click the Break Link To Symbol button  in the Symbols panel or Control panel.
  3. Edit the artwork.
  4. (Optional) do one of the following:

    • To replace the parent symbol with this edited version, Alt‑drag (Windows) or Option‑drag (Mac OS) the modified symbol on top of the old symbol in the Symbols panel. The symbol is replaced in the Symbols panel and is updated in the current file.

    • To create a new symbol with this edited version, drag the modified symbol to the Symbols panel or click New Symbol  in the Symbols panel.

Expand a symbol instance

  1. Select one or more symbol instances.
  2. 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.

  1. Select the symbol instance.
  2. 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.)

Replace a symbol instance with a different symbol

  1. Select the symbol instance on the artboard.
  2. 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.