In Illustrator 10, symbols are object templates that let you place instances of objects in a document without significantly increasing its file size.

When you have used an image as a symbol, it becomes linked to the image in the symbols pallet. You can right-click on the image and choose Break link to symbol .

How to Scatter a Symbol on a Path in Illustrator. Adobe Illustrator's symbols enable you to fill areas of your document with multiple instances of a drawing element.