How Do I Change Settings in Illustrator?

You can change Illustrator's settings by accessing the Preferences dialog box.

Accessing Illustrator Preferences

To modify various aspects of how Illustrator works, you'll need to navigate to the Preferences dialog box. Here's how you can do it:

Windows: Go to Edit > Preferences > [preference set name]. The [preference set name] refers to categories like "General", "Type", "User Interface", etc.
macOS: Go to Illustrator > Preferences > [preference set name]. Like Windows, [preference set name] indicates the category of settings.

With no objects selected in your Illustrator document, you can also click the Preferences button located in the Control panel. This provides quick access to the preferences window.

Within the Preferences dialog box, you'll find different categories of settings, allowing you to customize Illustrator's behavior:

General: This includes settings for things like interface behavior, startup documents, and other core application options.
Type: Manage settings for typography, including default font selection, size, and tracking.
User Interface: Configure the look and feel of Illustrator's interface, including the color theme, canvas, and panels.
Selection & Anchor Display: Customize how objects are selected, and how anchor points are displayed, improving visual feedback while you work.
Guides & Grid: Change the appearance and behavior of guides and grids, which help with precise design and alignment.
Smart Guides: Adjust settings for Smart Guides, which are dynamic guides that appear while you move or draw objects, aiding alignment and precision.
Plug-Ins & Scratch Disks: Manage plug-ins, scratch disk usage, and other system-level settings for optimizing performance and extensibility.
File Handling & Clipboard: Configure how Illustrator saves files, interacts with the clipboard, and recovers data.
Performance: Adjust performance-related settings that affect how Illustrator utilizes your system resources.
Units & Undo: Modify units of measure and set the number of undo/redo steps you can take.

Let's say you want to change the Illustrator interface from the default dark gray to a light gray.

Access Preferences: Follow the steps above to open the Preferences dialog box via either the menu or Control panel.
Select User Interface: Click on "User Interface" from the list on the left of the dialog box.
Adjust Brightness: In the "Appearance" section, you'll find a drop-down for "Color Theme". Choose "Light" or another theme as desired.
Confirm: Click "OK" to apply the changes. The Illustrator interface will update to the new theme immediately.

By familiarizing yourself with these options, you can tailor Illustrator to your workflow and preferences for a more personalized experience.