Quick Tip – 10: Using Global Swatches in Illustrator
Ever wish that you could create high fidelity design mock-ups with the ability to make global color changes? Well, with Illustrator you can do exactly that.
Here’s How it Works
Create a new swatch in the swatches pallet
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Save the Swatch as “Global”
When the swatch options dialog opens up check the “Global” option and then hit “Ok” to save the new swatch
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Identify Global Swatches
If a swatch is “Global” it will have a white triangle on the bottom right hand corner of its icon in the swatches pallet

Change the Color and Watch it Update
If you need to change a color globally on a bunch of items it’s as simple as double clicking the icon in the swatches pallet, changing the color, and..
Watch this:
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Turn into this:
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All in a matter of seconds!