When you start the program for the first time, the toolbar is on the left side of the screen. You can move the panel, as well as hide and show it again in the Window> Tools menu.
The tools in this panel are used to create, select and edit objects in Adobe Illustrator. Some tools have options that you open by double-clicking on the tool.
The small triangle in the lower right corner of the tool icon indicates that it has a drop-down menu in which additional tools are hidden. To see hidden tools, click on the visible tool and hold until the dropdown menu opens. To see the name of the tool, just hover over it.
You can click on the double arrow at the top of the panel to switch between one and two column views.
To detach a group of hidden tools from the main panel, click on the arrow on the right side of the drop-down menu.
There are several ways to choose the tool you want:
- just click on it (if you need a tool from the drop-down menu, then hold down)
- hold down the [Alt] key and click to switch between tools from its drop-down menu without opening it
- using hotkeys
For most tools, the cursor looks the same as its icon, but they all have a different point of action activation. But you can change the cursor to a crosshair for more precise work. To do this, go to Edit> Preferences> General and select Use Precise Cursors, or simply press the [Caps Lock] key on your keyboard.
