The Format Bar
The Format Bar sits above the horizontal ruler and provides quick access to creating and editing simple fill and stroke styles.
The Format Bar is visible by default with the Rulers. If your Format Bar is turned off, choose View > Show Rulers & Format Bar from the main menu. The format bar provides access to simple stroke style components: color, stroke width, dashes, end-caps and corner joints; and fill style components: color and shadow.
NOTE: Advanced styles should be edited within the Style Inspector. The Format Bar does not provide access to advanced style components, such as gradients, arrows, or "stacked" styles available in the Style Inspector. To create or edit complex styles, open the Style Inspector.
What Do "New" and "Clone" Mean?
To create a new style, click the "New" button. A simple style with a black stroke and gray fill is created. To customize the style, check or uncheck the "Stroke" and "Fill" style components and adjust the colors and settings as desired. Continue drawing.
To create a style from an existing style, use an existing style and click the "Clone" button. Clone will make a copy of the style you are currently using so you can make changes to it and continue drawing. Use clone, for example, when you want to change the stroke width but keep all other settings the same. Complex styles should be edited in the Style Inspector.
What are Shared Styles?
★☆★ Shared Styles ★☆★
Artboard is smart about the way it uses styles. When you draw several objects using the same style, they "share" the properties of that style. If you edit the style, the changes are applied across all instances of the style – in other words you will see the changes on all objects where the style has been used. In this way, you can draw in Artboard without having to reset the style each time you draw an object, and changes to styles can be made very quickly and efficiently.
Use the "New" and "Clone" buttons to create a new style and continue drawing without affecting the objects you’ve already drawn. Click the "New" button to create a new style from scratch. Click the "Clone" button to create a style based on the one currently in use – such as changing a stroke’s width or color and keep drawing.
HINT: Styles in the built-in Mapdiva collection cannot be over-written – to edit styles in the built-in collection, use "Clone" to make a copy of the original. Complex styles should be edited in the Style Inspector.
