Expert: Laith Ibrahim - 11/28/2007

Question
Hello.

All my brush libraries in AI CS3 (Mac OS) are locked with the 'crossed pen' icon on bottom strip. So I can't make any changes to them. I've tried everything to unlock them. I've made my own brush library - I've copied one existing file and rename it. It is locked too. (I have all the permissions for brushes .ai files in finder, etc.)

I can' find anything about this in preferences and in library window of AI.
I remember the similar problem in AI 10 (I've used till now), but I can't recall the solution.

So: How to UNLOCK THE LIBRARY and make it editable?

Thank you.
Bojan

Answer
Hi Bojan,
The only way to edit a brush library is to open its file in Illustrator, make the changes to the brushes or create new ones and save the file. From within Illustrator, Choose "File/Open/then browse to the Illustrator main folder/Presets/Brushes/Open the file of the brush you want to edit. You'll notice that you will not have the "Crossed Pen" anymore. Make new brushes or edit the ones already there. Save your file.
The next time you open a new document and you load the brush library you edited, your changes will be there.

I'm sure that this solution will fix the problem.
Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Best regards,

Laith