Menus

You already know that the Illustrator window is divided into panels (1) and menus (2).

You have already noted many functions in the menu bar.

You have also seen that when there is a black arrow pointing to the right next to a command (3), there is a submenu associated with it.

But there is much, much more.

When you right-click on an object, it opens a pop-up menu of commands (1).
Right click that same object when there are other objects in the drawing area, it opens a pop-up menu with different commands (2).

 

And there’s more.
Open a panel and click the icon in the upper right of that pane, it will open up a list of different commands. This list is different for each panel.

 

Tip!

Besides some of the commands in a menu or submenu, there are keyboard shortcuts (1). Remember these.
This will save you time when working with Illustrator.
You can not remember all of them, that’s quite logical. But I would try to remember the commonly used commands.

 

For those who might not know what a shortcut is. These are the buttons that you click on your keyboard to quickly activate a particular command.
So, for example, you click Ctrl A on your keyboard to select everything in the drawing area.

 

Navigation

If you want to work accurately, you zoom in on your image.
But when you’re zoomed in so much in the document, it will probably happen more than once that you do not know where you are in the document.

 

To solve this problem, we have several options to navigate the document.
A first is through the use of scroll bars at the bottom and right side of the document.
A second possibility is to use the “Hand” tool in the tool bar.
To quickly switch the tool that you are working and the “Hand”, hold the Spacebar on your keyboard. Do not let this go, then the last used tool is selected automatically. To navigate, click the “Hand” somewhere in the image and drag the mouse left, right, up or down.

 

A third possibility, and I think the best, is to use the “Navigator” panel.

To open this panel, click “Window” in the menu bar and select “Navigator” in the drop-down menu.
In the “Navigator” panel, you will see exactly where you are in the document in the red small box (1).
By clicking and dragging this red small box, you can change your position in the document (2).
Optionally you can further zoom in or zoom out in the document, using the scroll bars and buttons at the bottom of the pane (3).
Believe me, this is the fastest and most accurate way to navigate in your document.

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