Duplicate objects

Search
  1. Illustrator User Guide
  2. Get to know Illustrator
    1. Introduction to Illustrator
      1. What's new in Illustrator
      2. Common questions
      3. Illustrator system requirements
      4. Illustrator for Apple silicon
    2. Workspace
      1. Workspace basics
      2. Create documents
      3. Tools Default keyboard shortcuts | Illustrator
      4. Tool galleries
      5. Customize keyboard shortcuts
      6. Artboards
      7. Customize the workspace
      8. Properties panel
      9. Set preferences
      10. Touch Workspace
      11. Microsoft Surface Dial support in Illustrator
      12. Recovery, undo, and automation
      13. Rotate view
      14. Rulers, grids, and guides
      15. Accessibility in Illustrator
      16. Safe Mode
      17. View artwork
      18. Use the Touch Bar with Illustrator
      19. Files and templates
      20. Synchronize settings using Adobe Creative Cloud
    3. Tools in Illustrator
      1. Selection
        1. Overview
        2. Selection
        3. Direct Selection
        4. Group Selection
        5. Lasso
        6. Magic Wand
      2. Navigation
        1. Overview
        2. Zoom
        3. Rotate View
      3. Paint
        1. Overview
        2. Gradient
        3. Shape Builder
      4. Type
        1. Overview
        2. Type
        3. Type on path
  3. Illustrator on the iPad
    1. Introduction to Illustrator on the iPad
      1. Illustrator on the iPad overview
      2. Illustrator on the iPad FAQs
      3. System requirements | Illustrator on the iPad
      4. What you can or cannot do on Illustrator on the iPad
    2. Workspace
      1. Illustrator on the iPad workspace
      2. Touch shortcuts and gestures
      3. Keyboard shortcuts for Illustrator on the iPad
      4. Manage your app settings
    3. Documents
      1. Work with documents in Illustrator on the iPad
      2. Import Photoshop and Fresco documents
    4. Select and arrange objects
      1. Create repeat objects
      2. Blend objects
    5. Drawing
      1. Draw and edit paths
      2. Draw and edit shapes
    6. Type
      1. Work with type and fonts
      2. Create text designs along a path
      3. Add your own fonts
    7. Work with images
      1. Vectorize raster images
    8. Color
      1. Apply colors and gradients
  4. Cloud documents
    1. Basics
      1. Work with Illustrator cloud documents
      2. Share and collaborate on Illustrator cloud documents
      3. Upgrade cloud storage for Adobe Illustrator
      4. Illustrator cloud documents | Common questions
    2. Troubleshooting
      1. Troubleshoot create or save issues for Illustrator cloud documents
      2. Troubleshoot Illustrator cloud documents issues
  5. Add and edit content
    1. Drawing
      1. Drawing basics
      2. Edit paths
      3. Draw pixel-perfect art
      4. Draw with the Pen, Curvature, or Pencil tool
      5. Draw simple lines and shapes
      6. Image Trace
      7. Simplify a path
      8. Define perspective grids
      9. Symbolism tools and symbol sets
      10. Adjust path segments
      11. Design a flower in 5 easy steps
      12. Perspective drawing
      13. Symbols
      14. Draw pixel-aligned paths for web workflows
    2. 3D effects and Adobe Substance materials
      1. About 3D effects in Illustrator
      2. Create 3D graphics
      3. Create 3D objects
      4. Create 3D Text
    3. Color
      1. About color
      2. Select colors
      3. Use and create swatches
      4. Adjust colors
      5. Use the Adobe Color Themes panel
      6. Color groups (harmonies)
      7. Color Themes panel
      8. Recolor your artwork
    4. Painting
      1. About painting
      2. Paint with fills and strokes
      3. Live Paint groups
      4. Gradients
      5. Brushes
      6. Transparency and blending modes
      7. Apply stroke on an object
      8. Create and edit patterns
      9. Meshes
      10. Patterns
    5. Select and arrange objects
      1. Select objects
      2. Layers
      3. Group and expand objects
      4. Move, align, and distribute objects
      5. Stack objects    
      6. Lock, hide, and delete objects
      7. Duplicate objects
      8. Rotate and reflect objects
    6. Reshape objects
      1. Crop images
      2. Transform objects
      3. Combine objects
      4. Cut, divide, and trim objects
      5. Puppet Warp
      6. Scale, shear, and distort objects
      7. Blend objects
      8. Reshape using envelopes
      9. Reshape objects with effects
      10. Build new shapes with Shaper and Shape Builder tools
      11. Work with Live Corners
      12. Enhanced reshape workflows with touch support
      13. Edit clipping masks
      14. Live shapes
      15. Create shapes using the Shape Builder tool
      16. Global editing
    7. Type
      1. Create text
      2. Fonts and typography
      3. Format type
      4. Import and export text
      5. Format paragraphs
      6. Special characters
      7. Create type on a path
      8. Character and paragraph styles
      9. Tabs
      10. Text and type
      11. Find missing fonts (Typekit workflow)
      12. Update text from Illustrator 10
      13. Arabic and Hebrew type
      14. Fonts | FAQ and troubleshooting tips
      15. Create 3D text effect
      16. Creative typography designs
      17. Scale and rotate type
      18. Line and character spacing
      19. Hyphenation and line breaks
      20. Text enhancements
      21. Spelling and language dictionaries
      22. Format Asian characters
      23. Composers for Asian scripts
      24. Create text designs with blend objects
      25. Create a text poster using Image Trace
    8. Create special effects
      1. Work with effects
      2. Graphic styles
      3. Create a drop shadow
      4. Appearance attributes
      5. Create sketches and mosaics
      6. Drop shadows, glows, and feathering
      7. Summary of effects
    9. Web graphics
      1. Best practices for creating web graphics
      2. Graphs
      3. SVG
      4. Create animations
      5. Slices and image maps
  6. Import, export, and save
    1. Import
      1. Import artwork files
      2. Import bitmap images
      3. Import artwork from Photoshop
      4. Place multiple files | Illustrator CC
      5. Unembed images
      6. Import Adobe PDF files
      7. Import EPS, DCS, and AutoCAD files
      8. Links information
    2. Creative Cloud Libraries in Illustrator 
      1. Creative Cloud Libraries in Illustrator
    3. Save
      1. Save artwork
    4. Export
      1. Use Illustrator artwork in Photoshop
      2. Export artwork
      3. Collect assets and export in batches
      4. Package files
      5. Create Adobe PDF files
      6. Extract CSS | Illustrator CC
      7. Adobe PDF options
      8. File information and metadata
  7. Printing
    1. Prepare for printing
      1. Set up documents for printing
      2. Change the page size and orientation
      3. Specify crop marks for trimming or aligning
      4. Get started with large canvas
    2. Printing
      1. Overprint
      2. Print with color management
      3. PostScript printing
      4. Print presets
      5. Printer's marks and bleeds
      6. Print and save transparent artwork
      7. Trapping
      8. Print color separations
      9. Print gradients, meshes, and color blends
      10. White Overprint
  8. Automate tasks
    1. Data merge using the Variables panel
    2. Automation with scripts
    3. Automation with actions
  9. Troubleshooting 
    1. Crash on launch issues
    2. Recover files after crash
    3. File issues
    4. GPU device driver issues
    5. Wacom device issues
    6. DLL file issues
    7. Memory issues
    8. Preferences file issues
    9. Font issues
    10. Printer issues
    11. Share crash report with Adobe

Duplicate objects by dragging

  1. Select one or more objects.

  2. Select the Selection, Direct Selection, or Group Selection.

  3. Alt‑drag (Windows) or Option‑drag (Mac OS) the selection (but not a handle on the bounding box).

Duplicate objects by using the Layers panel

You can quickly duplicate objects, groups, and entire layers by using the Layers panel.

  1. Select the items you want to duplicate in the Layers panel.

  2. Do one of the following:

    • Choose Duplicate “Layer name” from the Layers panel menu.

    • Drag the item in the Layers panel to the New Layer button  at the bottom of the panel.

    • Start to drag the item to a new position in the Layers panel, and then hold down Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS). Release the mouse button when the indicator is in the position where you want to place the duplicated item. If you release the mouse button when the indicator is pointing to a layer or group, the duplicated item is added to the top of the layer or group. If you release the mouse button when the indicator is between items, the duplicated item will be added in the specified position.

Duplicate selections using drag and drop

You can use the Clipboard to transfer selections between an Illustrator file and other Adobe software including Adobe Photoshop and Adobe InDesign. The Clipboard is particularly useful for importing paths because paths are copied to the Clipboard as PostScript language descriptions. Artwork copied to the Clipboard is pasted in PICT format in most applications. However, some applications take the PDF version (such as InDesign) or the AICB version. PDF preserves transparency; AICB lets you specify whether you want to preserve the overall appearance of the selection or copy the selection as a set of paths (which can be useful in Photoshop).

To specify copying preferences, choose Edit > Preferences > File Handling & Clipboard (Windows) or Illustrator > Preferences > File Handling & Clipboard (Mac OS). Select PDF, AICB, or both. If you select AICB, select Preserve Paths to discard any transparency in the copied artwork or Preserve Appearance And Overprints to flatten any transparency, maintain the copied artwork’s appearance, and preserve overprinted objects.

Drag and drop artwork into a Photoshop document

  1. Select the artwork you want to copy.

  2. Open the Photoshop document into which you want to copy the selection.

  3. Do one of the following:

    • To copy the artwork into Photoshop as bitmap images, drag the selection toward the Photoshop window, and when a black outline appears, release the mouse button. To position the selection in the center of the Photoshop image, hold down Shift before dragging the selection. By default, selected objects are copied as bitmap images to the active layer.

    • To copy vector artwork into Photoshop as paths, hold down Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac OS), and drag the selection to the Photoshop document. When you release the mouse button, the selection becomes a Photoshop path.

Drag and drop artwork from Photoshop into Illustrator

  1. Open the Photoshop document from which you want to copy.

  2. Select the artwork you want to copy.

  3. Select the Move tool  and drag the selection from Photoshop into the Illustrator file.

Drag and drop artwork to the desktop (Mac OS only)

  1. Select the artwork you want to copy.

  2. Drag the selection onto the desktop.

    Selections are copied to the desktop as a picture clipping, which can be dragged and dropped into the desired document. Picture clippings are converted to PICT format when dragged to the desktop.

Offset duplicate objects

You can create a replica of an object, set off from the selected object by a specified distance, by using the Offset Path command or Offset Path effect. Offsetting objects is useful when you want to create concentric shapes or make many replications of an object with regular distances between each replication.

You can offset an object’s path relative to its original path by using the Offset Path effect in the Effect menu. This effect is useful for converting a mesh object into a regular path. For example, if you have released an envelope, or want to convert a mesh shape for use in another application, apply the offset path command with an offset value of 0, and then delete the mesh shape. You can then edit the remaining path.

Offset objects using the Offset Path command

  1. Select one or more objects.

  2. Choose Object > Path > Offset Path.

  3. Specify the offset distance, line join type, and miter limit.

  4. Click OK.

Offset objects using the Offset Path effect

  1. Select one or more objects.

  2. Choose Effect > Path > Offset Path.

  3. Specify the offset distance, line join type, and miter limit.

  4. Click OK.

Offset objects using keyboard

  1. Select one or more objects.

  2. Hold down Alt and press an arrow key.

A duplicate object is created, and is offset by the Keyboard Increment value specified in the General preferences. The location of the new object is determined by the arrow key you used.

Note:

If a duplicate is not created, make sure that the Keyboard Increment preference is set to a value other than zero.

More like this

Adobe logo

Sign in to your account

Quick links

View all your plans Manage your plans

Legal Notices    |    Online Privacy Policy