Tools

When you start Illustrator, a toolbar appears at the left of the screen that includes various tools you need to use while working on your document. The tools in the toolbar let you perform various tasks, such as create, select, and manipulate objects and select, type, paint, draw, sample, edit, and move images. 

Illustrator provides the following types of toolbar:

• Basic: This toolbar is displayed by default when Illustrator is launched. It includes a selective set of tools that you frequently need while working on Illustrator. To view the complete list of tools, click the Edit Toolbar (...) icon displayed at the bottom of the Basic toolbar. The All Tools drawer appears listing all the tools available in Illustrator.

• Advanced: This toolbar includes all the tools available in Illustrator. To switch from the Basic toolbar to Advanced, do one of the following:
  • Choose Windows > Toolbars > Advanced.
  • Select Advanced in the flyout menu of the drawer.

The Basic toolbar is replaced with the Advanced toolbar.

In Illustrator, the tools are broadly organized in the following categories:

• Select
• Draw
• Type
• Paint
• Modify
• Navigate

You can customize a toolbar by moving tools between the toolbar and the drawer. You can add more tools from the drawer to the toolbar or remove tools from the toolbar.

The tools can be added, removed, or rearranged in the toolbar only when the drawer is open. The toolbar is locked for editing when the drawer is closed.    

You can add one tool or multiple tools together as a group from the All tools drawer to the toolbar.

• To add a one tool at a time in the toolbar, drag the tool and drop at the divider line between the tools.

To remove a tool from the toolbar, drag the tool from the toolbar and drop anywhere in the drawer. The tool is automatically added to the category to which it belong.

To go back to the original settings, click Reset in the flyout menu of the drawer.

You can select multiple tools from the drawer, irrespective of the categories they belong to and add them as one tool group in the toolbar.

To select multiple tools together and add them as one custom group, do the following:

1. Press the Shift key and click the tools you want to add to the toolbar. Alternatively, use Ctrl+click (Windows) or cmd+click (macOS) to select multiple tools.
2. Drag the selection and drop at the divider line between tools in the toolbar.

The icon for the tool you select first is displayed in the toolbar.

Similarly, to remove multiple tools together, you can select them using the Shift key and drag them from the toolbar to the drawer.

To view a list of all tools in a tool group, do one of the following:

• Left-click the tool to view a list of all the tools in the tool group.

• Hold down Alt (Windows) or Option (macOS), and then click a tool to cycle through and select tools in the group.

• Press the keyboard shortcut of a tool. The keyboard shortcut is displayed in the tool tip and the All Tools drawer. For example, you can select the Move tool by pressing the V key.

Tip: To hide tool tips, choose Edit > Preferences > General (Windows) or Illustrator > Preferences > General (macOS), and deselect Show Tool Tips.

You can show or hide the following controls on the toolbar by selecting their icons in the Show section displayed at the bottom of the drawer:

• Control Visibility of Fill Stroke Control
• Control Visibility of Coloring Control
• Control Visibility of Drawing Mode Control
• Control Visibility of Screen Mode Control

Click the icons at the bottom of the toolbar to change the drawing mode from Draw Normal () to Draw Behind () or Draw Inside ().

Additionally, you can also change the screen mode by clicking the Change Screen Mode icon () at the bottom of the toolbar and choosing the desired screen mode.

To switch to the Advanced toolbar, which is a full-fledged toolbar including all the tools, do one of the following:

• Choose Windows > Toolbars > Advanced.
• Select Advanced in the flyout menu of the drawer.

The Basic toolbar is replaced with the advanced toolbar.

Do the following to create your own customized toolbars:

• In the drawer of the toolbar, choose New Toolbar in the flyout menu.
• Choose Windows > Tools > New Toolbar. 

After you provide a name and click OK, a blank toolbar is created. Click the Edit Toolbar button to open the drawer and add tools to the toolbar.

When you have multiple toolbars available, do the following to manage the toolbars:

You can expand some tools to show tools hidden beneath them. A small triangle at the lower right of the tool icon signals the presence of hidden tools. Hold down the mouse button on the visible tool to view the tools hidden under it.

Some tools in the toolbar have options that appear in the Properties panel. Additionally, you can also double-click a tool in the toolbar to view and change the settings for that tool.

You can move the toolbar by dragging its title bar.

Click the double-arrow on the title bar to toggle between the single-column and double-stack view of the toolbar.

To show or hide the toolbar, do one of the following:

• Choose Window > Tools.
• Click the close button on the title bar.

To select a tool, do one of the following:

• Click a tool in the toolbar. If there is a small triangle at a tool’s lower-right corner, hold down the mouse button to view the hidden tools, and then click the tool you want to select.

• Hold down Alt (Windows) or Option (macOS), and then click a tool to cycle through and select hidden tools.

• Press the tool’s keyboard shortcut. The keyboard shortcut is displayed in its tool tip. For example, you can select the Move tool by pressing the V key.

Tip: To hide tool tips, choose Edit > Preferences > General (Windows) or Illustrator > Preferences > General (macOS), and deselect Show Tool Tips.

The pointer for most tools matches the tool’s icon. Each pointer has a different hotspot, where an effect or action begins. With most tools, you can switch to precise cursors, which appear as cross hairs centered on the hotspot, and provide for greater accuracy when working with detailed artwork. Do one of the following:

• Choose Edit > Preferences > General (Windows) or Illustrator > Preferences > General(macOS), and select Use Precise Cursors.
• Press Caps Lock on the keyboard.