Select the object.
- Illustrator User Guide
- Get to know Illustrator
- Introduction to Illustrator
- Workspace
- Workspace basics
- Create documents
- Learn faster with the Illustrator Discover panel
- Accelerate workflows using the Contextual Task Bar
- Toolbar
- Default keyboard shortcuts
- Customize keyboard shortcuts
- Introduction to artboards
- Manage artboards
- Customize the workspace
- Properties panel
- Set preferences
- Touch Workspace
- Microsoft Surface Dial support in Illustrator
- Undo edits and manage design history
- Rotate view
- Rulers, grids, and guides
- Accessibility in Illustrator
- View artwork
- Use the Touch Bar with Illustrator
- Files and templates
- Tools in Illustrator
- Tools at a glance
- Select tools
- Navigate tools
- Paint tools
- Text tools
- Draw tools
- Modify tools
- Generative AI (not available in mainland China)
- Quick actions
- Illustrator on the web (beta)
- Illustrator on the web (beta) overview
- Illustrator on the web (beta) FAQ
- Troubleshooting issues FAQ
- Keyboard shortcuts for Illustrator on the web (beta)
- Create and combine shapes on the web
- Add and edit text on the web
- Apply colors and gradients on the web
- Draw and edit paths on the web
- Work with cloud documents on the web
- Invite collaborators to edit on the web
- Illustrator on the iPad
- Introduction to Illustrator on the iPad
- Workspace
- Documents
- Select and arrange objects
- Drawing
- Type
- Work with images
- Color
- Cloud documents
- Basics
- Troubleshooting
- Add and edit content
- Drawing
- Drawing basics
- Edit paths
- Draw pixel-perfect art
- Draw with the Pen, Curvature, or Pencil tool
- Draw simple lines and shapes
- Draw rectangular and polar grids
- Draw and edit flares
- Trace images
- Simplify a path
- Symbolism tools and symbol sets
- Adjust path segments
- Design a flower in 5 easy steps
- Create and edit a perspective grid
- Draw and modify objects on a perspective grid
- Use objects as symbols for repeat use
- Draw pixel-aligned paths for web workflows
- Measurement
- 3D objects and materials
- Color
- Painting
- Select and arrange objects
- Select objects
- Layers
- Expand, group, and ungroup objects
- Move, align, and distribute objects
- Align, arrange, and move objects on a path
- Snap objects to glyph
- Snap objects to Japanese glyph
- Stack objects
- Lock, hide, and delete objects
- Copy and duplicate objects
- Rotate and reflect objects
- Intertwine objects
- Create realistic art mockups
- Reshape objects
- Crop images
- Transform objects
- Combine objects
- Cut, divide, and trim objects
- Puppet Warp
- Scale, shear, and distort objects
- Blend objects
- Reshape using envelopes
- Reshape objects with effects
- Build new shapes with Shaper and Shape Builder tools
- Work with Live Corners
- Enhanced reshape workflows with touch support
- Edit clipping masks
- Live shapes
- Create shapes using the Shape Builder tool
- Global editing
- Type
- Add text and work with type objects
- Reflow Viewer
- Create bulleted and numbered lists
- Manage text area
- Fonts and typography
- Convert text within images into editable text
- Add basic formatting to text
- Add advanced formatting to text
- Import and export text
- Format paragraphs
- Special characters
- Create type on a path
- Character and paragraph styles
- Tabs
- Find missing fonts (Typekit workflow)
- Arabic and Hebrew type
- Fonts | FAQ and troubleshooting tips
- Creative typography designs
- Scale and rotate type
- Line and character spacing
- Hyphenation and line breaks
- Spelling and language dictionaries
- Format Asian characters
- Composers for Asian scripts
- Create text designs with blend objects
- Create a text poster using Image Trace
- Create special effects
- Web graphics
- Drawing
- Import, export, and save
- Import
- Creative Cloud Libraries in Illustrator
- Save and export
- Printing
- Prepare for printing
- Printing
- Automate tasks
- Troubleshooting
Learn how to group and expand objects.
You can group objects and work on them as if they are a single object. You can also expand an object into multiple objects.
Expand objects
When you expand an object, you convert its appearance attributes into objects. For example, if you expand a simple object, such as a circle with a solid-color fill and a stroke, both the fill and the stroke become discrete objects. If you expand a more complex artwork, such as an object with a pattern fill, the pattern is divided into the distinct paths that created it.
You typically expand an object when you want to modify the appearance attributes and other properties of specific elements within it. In addition, expanding objects may be helpful when you want to use an object that is native to Illustrator (such as a mesh object) in a different application that doesn’t recognize the object.
Expansion is particularly helpful if you are having difficulty printing transparency effects, 3D objects, patterns, gradients, strokes, blends, flares, envelopes, or symbols.
-
-
Select Object > Expand.
If the object has appearance attributes applied to it, Object > Expand is grayed out. In this case, select Object > Expand Appearance and then select Object > Expand.
-
Set the options for the selected object:
- Object: Expands complex objects, including live blends, envelopes, symbol sets, and flares.
- Fill: Expands fills.
- Stroke: Expands strokes.
- Gradient Mesh: Expands gradients to a single mesh object.
- Specify: Sets the tolerance for color values between color stops. Higher numbers help maintain a smooth color transition. Low numbers can create a more banded appearance.
Note:Hold down Alt (Windows) or Option (macOS) as you choose Object > Expand to expand a gradient using the settings last entered in the Expand dialog.
Group or ungroup objects
You can combine several objects into a group so that the objects are treated as a single unit. You can then move or transform them without affecting their attributes or relative positions. For example, you might group the objects in a logo design so that you can move and scale the logo as one unit.
-
Select the objects to be grouped or the group to be ungrouped.
-
Select either Object > Group or Object > Ungroup.
Grouped objects are stacked in succession on the same layer of the artwork and behind the frontmost object in the group. If you select objects in different layers and then group them, the objects are grouped in the layer of the topmost selected object. Therefore, grouping may change the layering of objects, and their stacking order on a given layer. Groups appear as <Group> items in the Layers panel. You can use the Layers panel to move items in and out of groups.
Groups can also be nested—that is, they can be grouped within other objects or groups to form larger groups.
More like this
Have a question or an idea?
If you have a question to ask or an idea to share, come and participate in Adobe Illustrator Community. We would love to hear from you and see your creations.