Creating a Perminent Symbol In Illustrator

Hello:

I'm a first year Multimedia Production student at Confederation College in Thunder Bay Ontario Canada.

I asked my proffessor how to create a perminent symbol in illustrator so that I wouldn't have to have a file open to be able to use that symbol. What I mean is I want to create a symbol and have always available like the fish, lantern, tree, or handicap sign.

If anyone knows how to do this please let me know.

Gerald

I don't know about Illustrator since I don't have it installed on this computer - but if it's set up like Photoshop all you should have to do is right click on the path and say Define Custom Shape

Thanks but that isn't exactly what I meant. Because if I close Illustrator and open it again that defined shape isn't going to be there. I want one that will always be there, like the fish or the lantern, the tree.

Because if I save that file and I open it again it will be there but I have to have that file open to be able to use that symbol in other files. I don't want to have to do that. I want my business logo there as soon as I open it. Or to be able to have a library of symbols of my own that I can open if I need them.

Here is the link that I found when searching google

http://experts.about.com/q/1027/3339000.htm

the problem is there isn't a preset/symbols directory

any suggestions?

Suggestions? Your link answers your question and tells you how to have it be there every time you open AI.

And if you read my note underneath you would have understood my problem. I don't have a preset symbols directory. So where do I get one? Do I make one? I hope that clears up what infact my problem is.

when you make a symbol you have (needless to say) a document open. The symbol you create becomes part of that document's "stock." If you save the document, close it and open it again - the symbol should be there for you - as should all other special items you created before saving - like swatches, brushes, etc.

But you just want the symbol - and not have to open the document every time you need it. So what you need to do is make a new, blank document. open the symbols library - you should have the defaults there... Delete them all one by one - drag them to the little trashcan. Now import or create all the symbols you need, drag them into the symbols library window and then ..save the library under a name you want - in a folder you want... next time you make a new document - simply open that particular library from where you saved it.