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How to Outline in Adobe Illustrator

November 12, 2021
Updated:
May 1, 2023

How to Outline in Adobe Illustrator

Red Shark Digital

Before we get started, grab the working file and follow along.

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Step 1:

Open Adobe Illustrator and type out your desired text. Make sure your text is set to the typeface and point size before moving onto the next step. You can scale the text if it’s not the right size, but you won’t be able to change the typeface after this step.

Step 2:

Once your text is ready to go, select all of it. Go to the “Type” drop down menu and select the “Create Outlines” tab.

Step 3:

With all of the text still selected, we’re going to make a compound path. Go to the “Object” drop down menu and select the “Compound Path” tab and choose “Make.”

Step 4:

To distinguish between the text and the outline, we’re going to change the color of the text. Don’t stress your color choice, you can always change this later on.

Step 5:

Make sure all your text is still selected. Go to the “Object” drop down menu and select the “Path” tab. Choose the “Offset Path” option. When the pop-up menu appears, set the “Offset” value. The higher the offset value, the heavier the weight of your outline will become.

Step 6:

Change the color of your outline and you’re all done! Experiment with different color combinations and offset values to achieve different effects

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