Illustrator

Appearance panel overview

You use the Appearance panel (Window > Appearance) to view and adjust the appearance attributes for an object, group, or layer. Fills and strokes are listed in stacking order; top to bottom in the panel correlates to front to back in the artwork. Effects are listed from top to bottom in the order in which they are applied to the artwork.

For a video on using the Appearance panel and effects, see www.adobe.com/go/vid0051.

Appearance panel listing attributes of a grouped object

A.
Object with stroke, fill, and drop shadow effect

B.
Layer with transparency

C.
Group with effect

D.
Stroke with roughen effect

E.
New Art (Maintains/Has Basic) Appearance button

F.
Clear Appearance button

G.
Reduce To Basic Appearance button

H.
Duplicate Selected Item button

Show or hide additional attributes in the Appearance panel

When an item in the Appearance panel contains additional attributes, a triangle appears to the left of the item’s name.

 Click the triangle next to an item’s name.

Reveal additional items in the Appearance panel

When you select items that contain other items, such as a layer or group, the Appearance panel displays a Contents item.

 Double-click the Contents item.

List character attributes for a text object in the Appearance panel

When you select a text object, the panel displays a Characters item.

  Double-click the Characters item.

Show or hide thumbnails in the Appearance panel

 Choose Show Thumbnail or Hide Thumbnail from the Appearance panel menu.