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How to maintain Illustrator pen tool stroke settings (size, brush, etc.) for all new paths?

Community Beginner ,
Jan 07, 2013 Jan 07, 2013

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I'm a newbie, so this is probably obvious, but I can't find it in any tutorials or documentation.  In Illustrator I want to maintain the stroke settings while creating several paths with the pen tool.  However, every time I start a new path, the stroke settings revert to what must be a default.  E.g. I set 16pt + Variable width profile + Basic and stroke a path.  When I start a new path, the settings revert to 1pt + Uniform + Basic, and I have to reset back to my original. Other art programs I've used maintain the tool settings most recently used until they are manually changed.  How can I get the settings to stay through multiple uses of the pen tool?  Thanks.

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correct answers 1 Correct answer

Adobe Employee , Jan 07, 2013 Jan 07, 2013

Hi Bion_s,

In the course of playing around in Illustrator to find a solution, I found that if you open your appearance panel (Window > Appearance), select the fly-out menu and deselect New Art has Basic Appearance.

Screen Shot 2013-01-07 at 3.16.51 PM.png

I found that with this option unselected, you can select your stroke width and profile and draw multiple times without it reverting to the default stroke!

Please let me know if this works for you. I'm not sure how this might affect your workflow on other projects, but it did result in th

...

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Community Expert ,
Jan 07, 2013 Jan 07, 2013

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From the appearance panel's menu uncheck "New Art has basic appearance"

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Community Beginner ,
Jan 07, 2013 Jan 07, 2013

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Monica and mjarrott,  thank you both for your super-fast replies with a (to me very un-obvious) solution that works perfectly!  Exactly what I wanted.

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Community Beginner ,
Apr 26, 2021 Apr 26, 2021

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Problem solved Monica 🙂 Thanks

 

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New Here ,
Jul 10, 2022 Jul 10, 2022

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Hi @Monika Gause , This seems like the perfect solution - but using InDesign in 2022, this setting doesn't appear to exist? Do you know where they might have moved it to?

 

The appearance panel is now built into the properties tab and doesn't have a fly out menu with options. I have searched other menus and properties and can not find "New Art has basic appearance" anywhere!

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New Here ,
Jul 10, 2022 Jul 10, 2022

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Ignore me - I thought this was about InDesign. I really need this setting for InDesign too!

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Community Expert ,
Jul 10, 2022 Jul 10, 2022

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InDesign has a way to change the defaults very easily. Start InDesign, make sure no documents are open. Change any setting in any panel. 

The next time you create a document it will have these settings

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New Here ,
Nov 29, 2022 Nov 29, 2022

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Thank you

 

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Adobe Employee ,
Jan 07, 2013 Jan 07, 2013

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Hi Bion_s,

In the course of playing around in Illustrator to find a solution, I found that if you open your appearance panel (Window > Appearance), select the fly-out menu and deselect New Art has Basic Appearance.

Screen Shot 2013-01-07 at 3.16.51 PM.png

I found that with this option unselected, you can select your stroke width and profile and draw multiple times without it reverting to the default stroke!

Please let me know if this works for you. I'm not sure how this might affect your workflow on other projects, but it did result in the behavior you seemed to want.

Cheers,

Michael

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Community Beginner ,
Jan 07, 2013 Jan 07, 2013

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Michael, see my reply to Monica and thank you so much.

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New Here ,
Oct 06, 2015 Oct 06, 2015

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Thanks!

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New Here ,
May 14, 2017 May 14, 2017

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Why is this not the default!!! Thank you. I am finding every new tool I learn I have to Google Why doesn't this work the obvious way. There is typically some short cut keys I have to press or some weird order I have to do it in to get it to work like everyone seems to assume it should.

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Community Expert ,
May 14, 2017 May 14, 2017

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sef23fwa3fg324  schrieb

Why is this not the default!!!

Because about as many people are irritated when new artwork have effects applied (which on top if that might slow down Illustrator considerably).

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New Here ,
May 01, 2020 May 01, 2020

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You are my saviour, I am eternally grateful. You should have a Nobel Peace Prize

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New Here ,
Jun 26, 2021 Jun 26, 2021

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Thank you! This is exactly what I was looking for. 

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New Here ,
Mar 15, 2023 Mar 15, 2023

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10 years later and this still works. Thanks!

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New Here ,
Sep 18, 2023 Sep 18, 2023

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LATEST

Thanks 😄

 

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Explorer ,
Jun 06, 2017 Jun 06, 2017

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None of this worked for me. my pen tool wont stay in the basic line type and keeps changing back to the previously used one. It wont maintain the thickness or line type i command and its ruining my project. Pen tool is literally useless.

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Community Expert ,
Jun 06, 2017 Jun 06, 2017

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What do you mean with "Basic line type"? A brush?

Are you really using the pen tool? Or is it the brush tool?

What exactly are you doing there? Step by step?

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Explorer ,
Jun 06, 2017 Jun 06, 2017

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sorry *paintbutsh tool*

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Community Expert ,
Jun 06, 2017 Jun 06, 2017

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A "Basic" brush is not a brush at all, but a simple stroke.

The brush tool cannot sraw with a simple stroke. It must use a brush.

In order to draw with a simple stroke, just use the pencil tool and not the brush tool.

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Community Beginner ,
Jan 08, 2018 Jan 08, 2018

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I found a different solution, but the problem may be different.

Basically I was using the brush tool but each new shape I drew didn't have a fill (I wanted it to have the exact same fill and stroke as the previous drawn shape).

Solution: double click the brush tool in the tool panel (where all the tools are - pencil, shapes, pentool ect.) - then check "fill new strokes" and voila!

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New Here ,
Aug 17, 2021 Aug 17, 2021

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THIS WAS GREATLY HELPFULL

 

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New Here ,
Oct 09, 2019 Oct 09, 2019

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Hello! I am on CC 2019 illustrator and I am having this same or similar problem. I unchecked the option mentioned above but the pen tool changes settings everytime I click a different shape. Is there a way to maintain the pen tool settings no matter what object you click? 

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Community Expert ,
Oct 09, 2019 Oct 09, 2019

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What exactly is your issue? What exactly does change? Which settings are you referring to?

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