Custom Brush can not be found! ?

[Newfdoc54]

I admit I am new to Illustrator so it is probably me, not Illustrator. I am also not the most computer savvy, but I do manage to play with photoshop and make many composite images so I think there is hope!

I am using a MacBook pro laptop with OS X El Capitan 10.11.6

I just started an Illustrator CC 2017 subscription and am trying to 1) create a custom feather brush and 2) save that custom brush so that it can be used for future projects.

My first issues began when I was creating the brush, the program kept locking up eg. spinning wheel, not responding to any commands, swearing, screaming, etc...

I did restart my computer (a few times), same thing happened. I finally managed to make the brush and tried many ways to get the brush into one of the brush libraries, that was also a pain, Finally, I was successful in getting the new brush to appear in one of the brush panels, but after leaving that document and going to a new document the brush was nowhere to be found.

SO, might I be doing something that is causing the program lock up?

How do I easily save a custom brush so that it appears in the brush library?

Thanks for your help!

[Monika Gause · Accepted solution]

Libraries are ai files.

You need to open the library that you want your brush to appear in and then add your brush to the brush panel in that file.

If you just want your brush to appear in all new files, add it to the new document profile that you use.

But since Illustrator locked up when creating it, you might want to first check if it is maybe very complex.

You could also create your own new library of brushes.

[Newfdoc54]

Thank you for your help! Finally success