In the main menu, click Object > Group to group the objects and Object > Ungroup to ungroup the objects. You can also use the keyboard shortcuts Ctrl/Command + G to group, and Shift + Ctrl/Command + G to Ungroup.
My name is April, and I’ve been working in the graphic design field for 13+ years now. Illustrator is a great software for creating all sorts of vector art and layouts. Along with creating in Illustrator, often it is helpful to create groups of objects.
Grouping makes it easier to move elements of an artwork all together, but sometimes you need to ungroup so you can make changes.
Let’s look further into it.
Table of Contents
How to Group Objects in Adobe Illustrator
Here are the steps to group objects in Adobe Illustrator.
Note: The screenshots from this tutorial are taken from Adobe Illustrator CC Windows version.
Step 1: Use the Selection Tool (keyboard shortcut V) to select all the objects/lines/points that you want to group.
Step 2: Then go to the top main menu, Object > Group.
Now your objects are grouped. You can click and drag the grouped object wherever you need it to go without having to select each piece first.
Instead of going to the Object menu after your objects are selected, simply use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl/Command + G to group your objects!
How to Ungroup Objects in Adobe Illustrator
If you want to ungroup objects, here are the steps.
Step 1: Using the Selection Tool (keyboard shortcut V), select the objects that you want to ungroup.
Step 2: Then navigate to the top main menu, Object > Ungroup, or use your keyboard shortcut Shift + Ctrl/Command + G to ungroup objects.
Now your objects are ungrouped. You can click and drag the individual pieces of the group around without going into isolation mode.
Understanding the Group/Ungroup Process
To delve a little deeper into what is actually happening, we can take a look at the Layers panel.
The objects that are selected as shown, are indicated by the little blue squares on the right-hand side of the panel where you can see a long list of shapes, paths, lines, and objects that are selected. This is the ungrouped version.
Then take a look at this panel and we see the objects neatly grouped.
Final Thoughts
Grouping and ungrouping is an essential task for using Adobe Illustrator if you are building anything complex. The groups are not permanent by any means and can be a great tool to reorganize and tidy up your artboards.
Have you tried to create a group of objects in Illustrator? What did you create with it and did it help you stay organized? Let me know in the comments below.
