Here are a collection of tips and tricks for Adobe Illustrator. Enjoy!

Check back often for new tips and tricks!

Trashing Your Preferences File at Launch Time
Press and hold Command-Option-Shift (Mac) or Ctrl-Alt-Shift (Win) while launching the application, and you'll get a dialog box asking if you want to delete your prefrences.

Restoring a Mesh Object
When you release an envelope shape, it's not a path anymore, but a "mesh" shape, as you can see in teh appearance palette screenshot below. Mesh objects are different from path objects and can't be stroked. Other applications also might not understand mesh objects. To get a path back, that you can use, select the mesh and choose Object>Path>Offset Path and specify an offset of 0. The resulting path can then be used as you wish, and you can choose to keep or delete the mesh object.

Switching Between Symbolism Tools
The Symbolsim tools are great, but it can be a pain switching between all of them. If you're on a Mac, press the Ctrl and Option keys while clicking with any of the Symbolism tools to get a special contextual menu where you can switch between the tools. On Windows, press the Alt key while right-clicking with the mouse with any Symbolism tool active.

Bring Back Venus!
While the new identity of Illustrator CS is nice, I still miss Venus every now and then. With any tool selected except for the Type tool, type in the letters V-E-N-U-S and watch Venus appear at the top of your toolbox. This is a toggle, so typing in VENUS again will return you to the pink flower.