Format your text with the character or paragraph attributes you want.
Last updated on
Oct 22, 2026
Learn how to create, edit, load, and manage character and paragraph styles in Illustrator to apply consistent formatting across your artwork.
Character styles save character formatting attributes, while paragraph styles save both character and paragraph formatting. Editing a style updates all text that uses that style.
Create a character or paragraph style
Select the formatted text.
Select Window > Type > Character Styles or Window > Type > Paragraph Styles.
Select Create New Style icon at the bottom of the panel.
Edit a style
Open the Character Styles or Paragraph Styles panel.
Double-click the style name you want to edit, or select the style and choose Style Options panel menu.
Modify the formatting options.
Select OK.
Load styles from another document
Open the document that will receive the styles.
Open the Character Styles or Paragraph Styles panel.
From the panel menu, choose one of the following:
- Load Character Styles
- Load Paragraph Styles
- Load All Styles
Navigate and select the Illustrator document that contains the styles.
Select Open.
If a style with the same name already exists, choose whether to replace the existing style or rename the imported style.
Duplicate a style
To create a copy of an existing style, drag the style onto the Create New Style icon at the bottom of the panel.
Delete a style
Open the Character Styles or Paragraph Styles panel.
Select the style.
Select the Delete Selected Styles icon at the bottom of the panel, or choose Delete Character Style or Delete Paragraph Style from the panel menu.
To remove multiple unused styles, choose Select All Unused from the panel menu, and then select the Delete Selected Styles icon at the bottom of the panel.
Note
Deleting a style removes the style definition. Text formatted with that style retains its current formatting.
Clear style overrides
A plus sign (+) next to a style name indicates that local formatting overrides have been applied.
To remove overrides:
Select the text.
In the Character Styles or Paragraph Styles panel, select the applied style again.
You can also choose Clear Overrides from the panel menu.
To update the style definition with the overridden formatting, select the text and choose Redefine Character Style or Redefine Paragraph Style from the panel menu.
By default, all characters use Normal Character Style, and all paragraphs use Normal Paragraph Style until you apply a custom style.
Design with precision in Illustrator
Bring your ideas to life with vector graphics tools built for creative freedom and accuracy.
