The influence of several common cosolvents on the level of film formation and surface mechanical properties of water-based acrylic coatings is investigated by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and AFM based nano-indentation technique. The amount of residual cosolvents in the coatings is determined and it is found that the aforementioned properties of coatings with the exact same polymer composition can be significantly different depending on the amount of residual cosolvents, which is related to the evaporation rate of the solvent as well as the interaction between the solvent, water and the polymer. Butyl glycol, for example, has good interaction with the acrylic polymer and water but due to its fast evaporation, does not improve film formation. Texanol, on the other hand, presents in the film at a large amount but it reduces the surface stiffness of the film and can have a detrimental effect on the surface mechanical properties of the coating. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.