Placing symbol instances

You place instances of symbols in your document in one of two ways: using the Symbols palette to place individual instances of a symbol, or using the symbol sprayer tool to create multiple symbol instances as a set. When you use the symbol sprayer, all of the symbols that appear from each spray become one instance set that you manipulate and edit as a whole. (See Using symbolism tools.)

Symbol instances placed using the Symbols palette are exact replicas of the original. When selected in the artboard, symbol instances have a bounding box around them, similar to grouped artwork.

To place a symbol instance using the Symbols palette:

1. Select a symbol from the palette.
2. Do one of the following:
• Click the Place Symbol Instance button  in the Symbols palette to place the instance in the center of the artboard.
• Drag the symbol to the artboard where you want it to appear.
• Choose Place Symbol Instance from the Symbols palette menu.

To duplicate a symbol instance:

1. Select the instance on the artboard.
2. Alt-drag (Windows) or Option-drag (Mac OS) the symbol instance to another location on the artboard.