Graphic Style Tool
Use Tools → Methods → Graphic Style to construct or load an appearance and create or update a reusable named entry in Illustrator's Graphic Styles panel. The paint-and-effect workbench is shared with the Appearance Tool, but the completed method creates a style rather than directly changing targeted artwork.
For accepted properties and known limitations, see the Graphic Style method reference.
Style Identity and Source
| Editor control | Generated property or behavior |
|---|---|
| Style Name | name; required name of the Graphic Style to create or update. |
| Source Object's Tag Search | tagSearch; identifies artwork whose appearance can define the named style. |
| Replace | replace; fully redefines an existing named style instead of merging the supplied appearance. |
| Load from Selection | Reads the selected artwork's appearance into the editor; it does not apply or capture the method. |
| Contents Position | contentsPosition; places object contents in the requested appearance-stack position. |
| UI Method | uiMethod; selects the UI-compatible appearance application path. |
| Apply Effects To Group Members | applyEffectsToGroupMembers; applies supported effects to group members when UI Method is used. |
| Skip | skip; True skips the row, False explicitly runs it, and Unset omits the property. |
Use Selection Tags reads existing Darty tags from selected artwork into Source Object's Tag Search. It does not load the artwork's appearance. Use Load from Selection when the visible fills, strokes, effects, opacity, or blend mode should define the style.
Build the Style Appearance
Use the same workbench as Appearance to configure:
- Pre Effects and Post Effects.
- Ordered fills and strokes.
- Effects attached to individual paints.
- Paint Field or Fill / Stroke indexing.
- Root visibility, opacity, blend mode, and opacity-enabled state.
- Paint and effect Mode, index, Replace, visibility, Skip, colors, stroke properties, and effect parameters.
See the Appearance Workbench, Fills and Strokes, and Effects for the shared controls and their generated properties.
Blank optional fields and Unset tri-state controls are omitted from the row. Style Name remains required, and the editor must contain at least one configured appearance value before the method can be captured or applied.
Create a Style from Selected Artwork
- Select the source artwork in Illustrator.
- Enter Style Name.
- Select Load from Selection.
- Review the imported paints, effects, and root controls.
- Enable Replace when an existing style should be fully redefined.
- Select Apply.
- Inspect the named style in Illustrator and the captured row in Table.
Loading from selection preserves Style Name, source tags, Replace, UI Method, group-member behavior, and Skip while replacing the workbench's current appearance definition.
Capture and Apply
- Add Row captures the Graphic Style method without changing Illustrator.
- Apply captures the row and creates or updates the named Graphic Style.
- Apply to Selection is not available because this method creates a document resource rather than directly styling the selection.
- Reset restores the initial Stroke and Fill, clears the working Table, and returns to the editor.
See Tools Method Actions and Apply Modes and Tools Method Table Preview.
Known Issue
Creating or redefining a named Graphic Style can currently store an Inside or Outside stroke alignment as Center. Inspect the created style when stroke alignment is important.
See Graphic Style Known Issues for the recommended workaround.