Editing or creating styles in layouts

You can edit the display attributes of objects, layout parts, or layout background styles. You can also create new, custom styles. Then you can save your changes to the current layout or theme.

To edit or create styles:

  1. In Layout mode, select an object, a part label, or click anywhere in the layout background to select it.

    Note  To select the layout background, ensure no objects or parts are selected.

  2. In the Inspector, click the Appearance Appearance tab.
  3. Change the display attributes of the selected object, layout part, or the layout background. See Editing objects, layout parts, and the layout background.

    An asterisk (*) appears after the style name and the arrow turns red, indicating the display attributes are different from the attributes saved in the current style.

  4. For Style, click Unsaved style button, then:
    • To edit a style, choose Save Changes to Current Style.
    • To create a new style, choose Save as New Style, type a new style name, then click OK.

    The asterisk disappears and the arrow changes to gray Saved style button, indicating your edits have been saved in the current style at the layout level. If you’ve edited an existing style, all objects on the current layout that are assigned this style are reformatted to display the new attributes.

    An asterisk appears after the theme name in the Inspector and the arrow turns red. If you edited a style, this indicates the selected style definition is different from the style of the same name stored in the current theme. If you created a style, this indicates the selected style has not been saved to the current theme.

  5. Do one of the following:
    • To update the edited style or save the new style in the current theme, click Unsaved theme button and choose Save Changes to Theme.
    • To save the new style in a new theme, click Unsaved theme button, choose Save as New Theme, type a name for the theme, then click OK.

    The arrow changes to gray Saved theme button.

To rename, delete, or revert changes to styles:

To

Do this

Rename a custom style

In the Appearance Appearance tab in the Inspector, for Style, click Style button and choose Rename Style. Type a new name, then click OK.

Note  You can also rename styles in the Styles Styles tab.

Delete a custom style
  • In the Styles Styles tab in the Inspector, select Show All. Pause the arrow pointer over the style you want to delete, click Style button, and choose Delete Style.
  • Select an object that has the style you want to delete, and click the Appearance Appearance tab in the Inspector. For Style, click Style button and choose Delete Style.

Note  If you delete a custom style that is applied to objects on a layout, the objects revert to the default style for that object.

Revert all layout-level changes to styles

On the layout, select an object, a part label, or click the layout background to select it. In the Appearance Appearance tab in the Inspector, for Style, click the red arrow Unsaved style button and choose Revert Changes to Style. The arrow changes to gray Saved style button.

Note  To incrementally revert and reapply style changes, choose Edit menu > Undo and Redo.

Notes 

  • You can’t use styles on other layouts until you save styles to a theme.
  • If you're making many changes to styles and intend to save them as a custom theme, start with the Minimalist theme or Minimalist Touch theme, which has no custom styles.
  • Some objects, such as buttons, popovers, and slide controls, have components that can be formatted independently. For example, for a slide control, you can create separate styles for the slide panels, the dots, or the area of the slide control that contains the dots.

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