Cleaning Up After Illustrator

Although the other techniques in this blog are creative techniques, this one is not. This technique prevents the creation of unnecessarily large files and extra work. You can build a whole bunch of information into a file, but that bulk of information makes the file slower to copy and print and less stable. A few commands are all you need to make a streamlined file that has just the necessary information and none of the fat. This is especially important whenever you give your file to other people. Here are the steps:

1. With the finished document open, choose Object➪Path➪Cleanup.
The Cleanup dialog box appears giving you the option of deleting stray points, unpainted objects, and empty text paths. Check all three options (if they aren’t already checked) and click OK. After you click OK, everything taking up file space that doesn’t appear in your document is deleted.

The invisible, unnecessary elements can contain fill, stroke, and text information, even though you don’t see them and they don’t print. Illustrator doesn’t know that; it leaves all that stuff in the document. Results: Great big files, long print times, and unprintable grumbling.

2. Choose Window➪Brushes and click the tiny triangle in the upperright corner of the Brushes palette.

3. In the resulting pop-up menu, choose Select All Unused and then click the Trash button in the lower-right corner of the Brushes palette.
All brushes in the palette, whether you use them or not, are embedded in the saved file. Deleting the unused brushes saves some space.

4. Choose Window➪Swatches and click the tiny triangle in the upperright corner of the Swatches palette.

5. In the resulting pop-up menu, choose Select All Unused and then click the Trash button in the lower-right corner of the Swatches palette.
All swatches in the palette, whether you use them or not, get embedded in the saved file. Deleting the unused swatches saves some space.

6. Choose Window➪Styles and click the tiny triangle in the upper-right corner of the Styles palette.

7. In the resulting pop-up menu, choose Select All Unused and then click the Trash button in the lower-right corner of the Styles palette.
All styles in the palette, whether you use them or not, get embedded in the saved file. Deleting the unused styles saves space. And hassle. And your faithful authors from having to say it again.