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ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR CS2
User Guide
Note:
It is safe to remove the entire Adobe Illustrator CS Settings folder. This folder contains various preferences that can
be regenerated.
You set preferences in the Preferences dialog box. To open the Preferences dialog box, choose Edit > Preferences
(Windows) or Illustrator > Preferences (Mac OS), followed by the type of preferences you want. To switch to
different options in the Preferences dialog box, select an option from the menu at the top left of the Preferences
dialog box. You can also click Next to display the next options, or click Prev to display the previous options.
About plug-in modules
Plug-in modules
are software programs that add features to Adobe Illustrator. A number of special effects plug-ins
come with your program and are automatically installed in the Plug-ins folder inside the Illustrator folder.
To get information about a plug-in, choose Help > About Plug-ins (Windows) or Illustrator > About Plug-ins
(Mac OS). To use a different folder as your plug-ins folder, choose Edit > Preferences > Plug-ins & Scratch Disks
(Windows) or Illustrator > Preferences > Plug-ins & Scratch Disks (Mac OS), and select the folder. Then restart
Illustrator in order for the plug-in modules to take effect.
You can install any commercial plug-in designed for use with Photoshop or Illustrator. To install an Adobe Systems
plug-in module, use the installer if one is provided. Otherwise, drag a copy of the module to the Plug-ins folder inside
the Illustrator folder. Then restart Illustrator for the plug-in to take effect. To install a third-party plug-in module,
follow the installation instructions that came with the plug-in module.
Note:
The open architecture of the Adobe Illustrator program allows developers outside of Adobe to create features that
are accessible from within Adobe Illustrator. If you are interested in creating plug-in modules compatible with Adobe
Illustrator, see the Adobe Systems U.S. website at
www.adobe.com
.
About startup files
When you create a new document from scratch, Illustrator uses a
startup file
to define the default look and attributes
of the document. There are two startup files: one for CMYK documents and one for RGB documents. These files are
located in the Plug-ins folder in the Adobe Illustrator application folder.
By customizing a startup file, you can redefine the default graphic styles, swatches, brushes, symbols, actions, graph
designs, fill and stroke attributes, viewing preferences, magnification level, document size, illustration window size,
and scroll position for new documents. Creating a custom startup file gives you easy access to document features that
you use most frequently, by making them available in every new Illustrator file you create.
Create a template instead of customizing the startup files. You can create as many templates as you want, whereas
you are limited to customizing two startup files.
See also
“About templates” on page 34
To create a custom startup file
1
Open the startup file you want to customize (Adobe Illustrator Startup_CMYK or Adobe Illustrator
Startup_RGB) in the Plug-ins folder in the Adobe Illustrator application folder.
Make a copy of the original startup file in case you need it again.
2
Delete any existing swatches, graphic styles, brushes, or symbols you don’t want to retain.