symbols: what does the dashed orange stripe stands for?

[Schubi63]

Hi,

 

I have learned that a symbol is marked as symbol by getting the suffix "(Symbol)" but also by getting an orange stripe on the left in the layers panel.

 

But what means a dashed stripe (see "logo banner" in the screenshot)?

 

 

Thanks,

Stefan.

 

 

[MEB]

Hi Stefan,

It means you have turned off sync and have change some property (like a color of one of its components or the stroke width) in a particular symbol instance, so it's not exactly like the original symbol anymore.

[v_kyr]

It indicates that a symbol and/or it's associated contents have been altered/changed! - In a similar manner like some Editors or IDEs indicate made text changes on specific lines etc.

[Schubi63]

Hi MEB,

 

ok I understand ... but because of I did't click on "Sync" to break the connection to the original symbol I musts have been a color modification.

 

Now my questions are:

 

1. Where are the differences? 

2. How can I see / find them?

3. How can I turn these modifications back ? Get the symbol back into a sync-state???

 

 

Stefan.

[MEB]

As far as i know there's no way to "break the connection" unless you turn off sync temporarily to change a property of one of the elements of a symbol. If you somehow broken it, i would like to known how you have done it too...

 

Regarding your questions:

1. If you change one of the instances of the symbol (turning sync off temporarily, changing a property of one of its elements and turning it on again) the only way to know it was changed is by its appearance on canvas which is now obviously different from the other instances, and the dashed line on the Layers panel which indicates which object was changed.

 

2. The only way to find them is looking at the canvas and searching for the symbol that's visually different from the others (or through the Layer panel looking for the symbol which have one of its layer marked with the dashed line) as i said above.

 

3. I'm not sure i understood this point. If you turn sync off temporarily to change a property of one of the instances of the symbol, there's no way to re-sync that property back. Just drag a new instance of that Symbol from the Symbols panel again and place it in the same place as the one that was changed.

 

Here's how this works in practise (open the attached document):

In that document i have one symbol composed by three objects. Expand the bottom layer, select the Star layer, open the Symbols panel and turn Sync off. Change the colour of the Star to yellow. As you can see only the bottom symbol changed. The other instance placed on the top of the canvas remains as it was because you turned sync off. Now, re-enable sync again for the same star/layer. From now on all changes you make to the properties of the elements of any instance will be reflected on all symbols. Try for example move just the circle of the symbol on the top of the canvas. The one on the bottom will reflect it too. Try changing its colour - again the bottom symbol will change the colour too. Even the Star will reflect all the changes you may perform on it except changing its colour because this property is not synched anymore. There's no way to force it to re-sync. As i said above if you need to "revert" it to its original state - so it also changes its colour with the other instances - just drag a new instance of the symbol from the Symbols panel and place it in the same place (deleting the old one).

symbols_sample.afdesign

[Schubi63]

Hi MEB,

 

thank you so much for your effort. I really appreciate it

 

But:

 

What if the changes aren't obvious at all? Why do I have to play Sherlock Holmes :) and digging into the symbols hierarchy (which is not just one geometric object with a fill color) and compare my "dashed-symbol" with a "virgin symbol" manually?

 

I don't get the point, that AD is smart enough to show me, that there is a difference, but:

 

1. does not "tell" me which one(s) and 

2. there is no button, no function, no context menu option to "reset" / "undo" this difference (means: no way to turn it back as an virgin symbol again.

 

This is missing.

[MEB]

Hi Schubi63,

This is the first implementation of the Symbols feature. Those improvements (expose which properties are being carried over and which not etc) should come with future improvements/versions.

[R C-R]

In its present form, you can tell which attributes are not synced only by hovering the mouse pointer over the "(Symbol)" suffix on a symbol layer in the Layers panel. After a brief delay, that pops up a small 'tool tip' type window listing its 'unlinked' attributes.

 

It is better than nothing but obviously leaves a lot to be desired as a useful, user friendly feature.

[markw]

Hello Schubi63,
As no one seems to have mentioned it so far, I’m going to plug a very clear in-house tutorial on using Symbols here:

I found it very helpful in getting to grips with using them.

[Schubi63]

Hello Schubi63,

As no one seems to have mentioned it so far, I’m going to plug a very clear in-house tutorial on using Symbols here:

I found it very helpful in getting to grips with using them.

Thanks markw,

 

for pointing to this video here. It's a short and very clear one about symbols in general. Nice!

[Schubi63]

The system of indicating that a symbol instance has been modified is cool. But it works currently only on the child-objects of a symbol, right? Means: a dashed orange stripe will only be on child objects.

 

If I remove a child object within an instance and turn back sync ... the symbol itself (which has the orange gradient strip) does not indicate in any way, that it is different to the original symbols. 

[My1]

but I have something weird. the dashed layer still seems to be fully in sync (e.g. color changes on the dashed layer carry over) and I have another symbol where both instances aer orange but show literally no layer marked by a dashed line.

 

stuff gets weirder because even when I delete the instance and drag a new symbol in, the dashed layers stay dashed.

[MEB]

but I have something weird. the dashed layer still seems to be fully in sync (e.g. color changes on the dashed layer carry over) and I have another symbol where both instances aer orange but show literally no layer marked by a dashed line.

Hi My1,

A dashed layer doesn't mean all properties of an object inside a symbol will not carry over to others: only the properties(s) that were changed while the Sync button was turned off will not sync. All the others remain synched. Check this video tutorial (also referenced above) for more info about symbols.

 

 

stuff gets weirder because even when I delete the instance and drag a new symbol in, the dashed layers stay dashed.

If you drag a new instance of the symbol from the Symbols panel it shouldn't have any "dashed" layers since it's the original version of the symbol. Dashed layers represent instances where one or more of properties of the objects of the symbol are NOT in sync with the original symbol anymore and so they will not affect the original symbol's layers in any way. Are you sure you have not checked another symbol in the Layers panel instead of the ones you just dragged from the Symbols panel?

[My1]

well I remote both (aka all) instances of the symbol and I only have one on each artboard so I think I am doing it right. and know what is what.

 

but honestly I havent turned off the sync button while doing anything except one time for testing but ofter that I kicked it on again removed the symbol instances and added them free from the panel

[MEB]

If you didn't turn sync off, all instances of the symbol should remain synched with the original in the Symbols panel (no dashed layers), unless there's a bug somewhere. 

[My1]

and even if sync was off for a while it should become normal after killing the instance and pulling it out again, which is weird because it doesnt.

 

btw from the hint I got in your other post it seems that the text frame of 2 text objects is out of sync for some reason.

[MEB]

Yes, that seems wrong. Are you able to replicate that behaviour in a new document? If so can you please detail the steps you take to replicate the issue you are describing?

[My1]

honestly I have tried to replicate that stuff myself without success yet, so I just gave up and went for plan B ( cut and pasting the dashed object layers out and back in. )

 

If I find something I'll try to remember telling you guys.

 

thx4help anyway.