How to Make and Remove Outlines in Adobe Illustrator

In this tutorial, you will learn how to add and remove outlines in Adobe Illustrator. These ‘outlines’ refer to colored borders around the edge of vector shapes or images.

Here’s more about outlines:

What are Outlines in Adobe Illustrator

In this guide, outlines or borders are used to represent the edges of a shape or an object.

When you create an object in Illustrator, it is filled with color, but the edges remain uncolored. These uncolored edges are referred to as outlines.

Outlines can be visible or invisible, depending on the design needs of the user. In some cases, outlines can make something stand out, other times, they may interfere with the design, making it look cluttered or messy.

Related: 3 Easy Steps To Make Outline In Adobe Illustrator

There are two kinds of outlines that appear as a border around an object. One is a simple stroke with one path line.

Another is known as “Outline Stroke” where the stroke is expanded and filled with color, which means the stroke is not a line, but a shape going around the edge of an object.

Here is the difference between a stroke with one path line and vs Outline Stroke:

The choice of method for removing the outline depends on the kind of outline you have on your artwork.

The best way is always to reverse or undo your actions to get back the artwork version that doesn’t have the outline or border. But in times you may not have such luxury.

Either you were given an existing artwork with an outline that was created by someone else, or you’ve saved the outlined version and can’t reverse it by undoing or redoing it.

Don’t worry, you are in good hands. Here, I’ve highlighted several possible scenarios of outlines or borders and the best method to remove them.

Go through each of them like a trial-and-error checklist and you may find a method that works best for your case.

Some examples of making an outline are creating logos like these big brands:

Steps to Make Outline in Adobe Illustrator

💡 Pro Tip: You can make an outline for text, shape, or object in Adobe Illustrator so long they are vector paths. You can apply stroke to text but there is limited customisation. 

It's best for you to Create Outlines on the font to convert it into a vector format first. To make an outline, select the object, then double-click the Stroke option in the Fill and Stroke menu on the Toolbar. 

Select your desired color in the Color Picker, then go to the Stroke Panel and increase the Weight value. Adjust your stroke style within the Stroke Panel.

Meantime, I’m aware that Illustrator uses the word “Outline” for a couple of actions. Based on Illustrator’s terms, the word “Outline” also refers to Outline view or Outline mode, which is an Illustrator Preview Mode.

Don’t confuse making the outline term here with Outline mode. The article here touches on adding a colored line around the edge of an object or text. With that as clear as crystal, let’s get started!

Related: How To Get Out Of Outline Mode In Adobe Illustrator?

Here are detailed steps on making an outline in Illustrator:

Step 1: Convert Object to Vector

The first step is to check if the object you’d like to outline is an image, a text or a vector format. You can make an outline for anything in Illustrator, but the method depends on the format of your object, and where you’d like to apply it.

If you wish to add an outline to some text, you will have to convert it into a vector path.

To convert the text into a vector, first, select the text by clicking on it. Then, select Type in the top menu and select Create Outlines in the drop-down menu.

Create Outline in Illustrator shortcut

Press Shift + Command + O for Mac on the keyboard:

Or Shift + Ctrl + O for Windows.

Your text is now like a shape or graphic made up of paths and anchor points.

If you were to double-click your text, you will see that you won’t be able to edit it like before. You can now outline your text just like any vector object or shape created in Illustrator.

Why is creating outlines greyed out in Illustrator

There are times when you may encounter a situation where the Create Outlines is not clickable or greyed out. The keyboard shortcuts may not work either. In this case, you won’t be able to convert your text to a vector.

One reason why the option to Create Outlines is greyed out is that the text box of the text you want to convert to outlines is not selected. It also doesn’t work if you select the text by highlighting it.

Solution 1: Select Text Box

You will have to first click on the selection tool, or use the keyboard shortcut by pressing the letter “V“. Then, click on the box that contains the text. You will now see the Create Outlines function clickable in the menu.

Solution 2: Use the Expand Function

Instead of looking for ways to make Create Outlines clickable, the better way is to use the Expand function to Create Outlines for your text.

First, select your text box, then select Object in the top menu, and select Expand in the drop-down menu.

Step 2: Add Outline Color to Object

Now your object is ready for you to add the outline. There are two methods, one for vectors and the other method for images.

Method 1: Apply Stroke on Vector

First, select your vector object by clicking on it once. If your object is a text, and you’d like to only add the outline around one letter, ungroup the text so that individual letters will not be linked together.

To ungroup the letters, select Object on the top menu and select Ungroup, or go to Object > Ungroup.

If you wish to outline all letters in the same color and outline style, go ahead to select them as a group and outline them in one go.

With your object selected, go to the bottom of the Toolbar, and double-click on the Stroke option of the Fill and Stroke function. It is represented by a square outline with a red diagonal slash line.

Next, the Color Picker dialog box opens up for you to select the color you want to outline your object.

Once you are ready to give a color for your outline with the Color Picker, jump to this section: Choose A Color For Your Outline From the Color Picker

If your object is an image and this method does not work for you, read on to Method 2: Trace The Image Shape 👇👇👇.

How to Outline An Image in Illustrator?

Method 2: Trace the Image Shape

If your object is an image or picture like bitmap, JPEG, or PNG, you can’t use the Stroke function directly on it like how you use it on a vector object in Method 1.

If you want to know how to create outline of png picture in Illustrator, or any other image format, one way is to create a shape out of the image.

Before you start, you may wish to embed your image to avoid missing links when you reopen your file later.

Next, if your image has an irregular shape, get started by tracing the outline with the Pen Tool or Curvature Tool to create a vector shape of the image.

If your image is a regular shape like a rectangle, square, or circle, select the appropriate shape tool from the Toolbar and draw it over the image. You can move the shape to position it accurately over the edge of the image.

Next, click on the shape to select it. Then, go to the bottom of the Toolbar, and double-click on the Stroke option of the Fill and Stroke function.

This opens up the Color Picker dialog box. Next is to add color to the outline 👇👇👇.

Choose A Color For Your Outline From the Color Picker

With the stroke option selected, the Color Picker dialog box opens up where you can select the color you’d like to outline your object. You can use any of the color options provided:

1. Select a custom color from the section that says “Select Color”.
2. Scroll up and down the vertical color bar to browse more color choices
3. Input the values for HSB or Hue, Saturation, and Brightness color model
4. Input the values for RGB or Red, Green, and Blue color model
5. Input the hex values in the # field
6. Input the values for CMYK or Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Key or Black color model
7. Select the Color Swatches button to select preset colors

Once your desired color has been selected, click the OK button. You will now see the color applied as a fine or thin outline around the edge of your object.

Step 3: Adjust the Stroke Style

Next, you may wish to change the style of the stroke, such as the thickness. You can do this in the Stroke Panel.

With your object or traced shape still selected, select Window from the top menu and select Stroke in the drop-down menu. Or Window > Stroke.

The Stroke Panel will open up.

Double-click the mini arrow icon on the tab that says Stroke to fully expand the panel.

Go to the Weight section to change the thickness of the stroke. The higher the number, away from 0, the thicker the outline. The smaller the number, the closer to 0, and the thinner the outline. The thinnest you can go is 0.25 pt and the thickest would be 100 pt.

Next, go to the Corner section, you will see three corner-style options. Each of them represents the shape of the corner of the stroke. Select the first one, or Miter Join for all corners on your object to be sharp. This is how it will look like:

Select the second one or Round Join for all corners on your object to be rounded. It will look something like this:

Or select the third one, or Bevel Join for all corners on your object to be flat like this:

Then, go to the Align Stroke section to select where you want the stroke to appear. If you select Align Stroke to Center, half of the stroke will take up the space of your object.

If you select Align Stroke to Inside, the outline stroke will appear on the inner edge and take up more space inside the object. Like this:

And Align Stroke to Outside brings the stroke to outline the outside edge of your object, making most of your object look bigger.

How to Remove Outline in Adobe Illustrator?

Now that you know how to make an outline in Adobe Illustrator, the next thing is to remove the outline as and when you need to. There are three methods to remove the outline from your object.

Method 1: Advanced Toolbar

One method to remove the outline from your object is to do that in the Advanced Toolbar. If you only see the Basic Toolbar, you won’t be able to see the function to remove outline.

To open up the Advanced Toolbar, select Window on the top menu, and select Toolbars and Advanced on the drop-down menu. Or go to Window > Toolbars > Advanced.

Your Basic Toolbar will now expand to show more tools. Then, select your object (text or shape) first by clicking on it once.

Next, go to the Advanced Toolbar and click on the white square with a red diagonal line or slash. The outline will now be removed and you won’t see it on your object or shape anymore.

Method 2: Swatches

The other way to remove the outline from your object is to use the Swatches Panel.

First, open up the Swatches Panel by selecting Window on the top menu, and selecting Swatches in the drop-down menu. Or go to Window > Swatches.

Then, select your object (text or shape) first by clicking on it once. Next, select the Stroke icon or press the letter X on your keyboard so that it will appear in front of the Fill icon. Then, select the white square with the red diagonal line to remove the outline.

Method 3: Reduce Stroke Weight

The next method to remove the outline from your object is to use the Stroke Panel. First, open up the Stroke Panel by selecting Window on the top menu, and selecting Stroke in the drop-down menu. Or go to Window > Stroke.

Then, select your object (text or shape) first by clicking on it once. Next, go to the Stroke Panel and replace the stroke weight in the Weight section. Delete the current stroke weight value and type in “0” in the weight section.

You will see that the outline or stroke is removed from your object.

💡 Pro Tip: If you tried these methods but your outline is still there, this may mean your outline is not a Stroke, but it’s an Outline Stroke. In other words, it may not be an outline created with the Stroke function. 

To remove the Outline Stroke, you will have to ungroup your object until the point where the outline is an individual layer separated from any other object layers. Then make sure the outline stroke is selected and hit the Delete key on the keyboard.

5 Ways To Remove Outlines In Illustrator

You can remove outlines by first selecting the object and changing the Weight value in the Stroke panel to “0”. Or, find the outline layer in the Layers panel and delete it.

Before knowing which methods would work for you, check your outline to see what kind of outline you will be removing. Here are the steps to check:

Step 1: Select the Outline

First, click on the Selection Tool from the Toolbar. Or use the keyboard shortcut by pressing the letter “V”. Then select the outline or the object with the outline by clicking on it once.

Step 2: Check If the Outline Is On A Separate Layer Or Not

Once you’ve selected the outline, open the Layers Panel by selecting Window and selecting Layers in the drop-down menu. Or go to Window > Layers.

Navigate to the outline layer by looking for the blue square. It indicates the selected layer. The purpose of doing this is to check whether the layer you’ve selected is a full path layer on its own or not.

If the outline looks like it’s in the same layer as the object, open the Stroke Panel first to see if any stroke effect has been added to the layer to create the outline.

Open the Stroke Panel by going to Window on the top menu and selecting Stroke in the drop-down menu. Or go to Window > Stroke.

Then, check if there’s any weight value in the Weight field.

If the value is more than 0 pt, it means the stroke effect is applied to the object to create the outline. Otherwise, the stroke or outline could have been applied to another layer, separate from your object layer.

The next step is to use any of the various methods below to remove the outline from your object.

Method 1: Reduce the Stroke Weight

This is the most common method to remove outlines in Illustrator. This works if your outline is created with the Stroke feature on the same layer as your object.

Open the Stroke Panel with your outline selected, you will see the Weight value above 0 in the Stroke Panel.

To remove the outline, bring the value down to 0 pt.

If you aren’t able to change the Weight value, try the next method.

Method 2: Delete the Outline Layer

If your outline is separated from your object completely, you can delete the outline without affecting the main object layer.

Usually, in such a scenario, the outline is positioned under or above the main object layer.

In this case, it isn’t a border, but a shape that is created wider than the object to make it look like a border.

Here are the steps to remove outlines in this scenario:

Step 1: Select the outline shape

First, select the shape that creates the outline. In this example, I have selected the bigger circle that’s on a layer behind the smaller pink circle.

Step 2: Open the Layers Panel to Check the Outline Layer

Next, open the Layers Panel to make sure that the layer you’ve selected is indeed on its own layer. You don’t wish to delete the wrong layer.

Step 3: Press the Delete key on your keyboard

You can now remove the outline by pressing Delete on your keyboard or clicking the trashcan icon on the bottom right corner of the Layers Panel.

Your outline is now removed, leaving the other parts of your artwork intact.

Method 3: Convert to Outline Stroke

You will use this method if you can’t remove it with the Stroke Panel and your Layers Panel shows that your outline has both outline and main object merged in one layer, like this:

To remove outlines like this, follow these steps:

Step 1: Outline Stroke

Select your outlined object, then, select Object from the top menu and select Path and Outline Stroke from the drop-down menu. Or go to Object > Path > Outline Stroke

Step 2: Ungroup

Then select the object again and ungroup the layers by going to Object in the top menu and selecting Ungroup from the drop-down menu.

You can also use keyboard shortcuts by pressing Shift + Command + G for Mac or Shift + Ctrl + G for Windows

Step 3: Select Outline Layer

Reset your selection by clicking the cursor outside of your artwork. Then select the outline layer only by clicking on it once

Step 4: Delete

Press delete on the keyboard to remove the outline or drag the outline out of the artboard to keep it for future use.

Method 4: Remove The Stroke from Another Layer

You may wish to remove an outline from an object, but when you select the object and refer to the Stroke Panel, the Weight value is empty.

Somehow there isn’t any stroke applied to your object, but you see an outline on the edge of your object, like this:

In your case, the outline could be just a thin black line, but here, I’m using a thick blue outline so that it is more visible.

If you are wondering whether the outline is actually visible and shown when printed, yes, chances are it is a stroke that’s been applied.

The reason why you see it as a no-stroke effect is that the stroke is not applied to the layer you have selected on.

The stroke has been applied to another layer either by accident or created by someone else for a specific purpose.

You will have to find that layer to remove the stroke from that particular layer. Here are the steps:

Step 1: Check Which Layer The Stroke Is Applied To

The first thing to do is to open the Appearance Panel and Layers Panel just next to your artwork like this:

Next, select any of your affected objects by clicking once on it. Make sure that the Target Circle of the selected object in the Layers Panel has been selected.

If not, bring your cursor to it and click once to select it. It should now have 2 circles, like this:

Next, refer to the Appearance Panel and you will see an icon on the Layers tab that looks like this:

This shows that there is a stroke effect applied, and it’s been applied to another layer, not to the object you have selected.

Step 2: Remove the Outline from the Layer

Now that you’ve identified the layer with the stroke or outline, the next step is to select the Layer tab in the Appearance Panel by clicking on it once.

The tab showing your object’s effects will be replaced by the effects of the Layer instead.

You will see the Stroke option under the Layer tab with a weight of more than 0 pt.

Next, change the weight to 0 pt and hit the Return or Enter key on the keyboard. Or click your cursor anywhere outside the artboard.

This removes the outline or stroke of the layer and you will not see it on your object anymore.

Method 5: Remove An Outline Stroke

Sometimes, the way an outline is applied to the text is not obvious and may have been done as a Path effect.

The best way to know how to remove this is to understand how it was applied to the text in the first place.

To add a Path effect, you would select the text, then select Effect from the top menu and Path. You can select either Outline Object or Outline Stroke to give the outline text effect.

However, you can’t remove the outline by reselecting these options from the menu. The same effect will just be added to your text. Here are the steps to remove the text effect in Adobe Illustrator:

Step 1: Open the Appearance Panel

First, open the Appearance panel by going to Window in the top menu, and selecting Appearance from the drop-down menu. Or select Window > Appearance.

Step 2: Delete Effects

Select the Outline Object and click the trash can icon on the bottom right-hand corner to delete it.

Do the same for Outline Stroke if it’s there; select Outline Stroke and click the trash can to remove it.

Do the same for Offset Path if it’s there; select Offset Path and click the trash can to remove it.

You will now see that your text has shrunk or become thinner because the outline stroke has been removed.

How To Get Out Of Outline Mode In Adobe Illustrator?

If your artwork looks something like this, with no other colors but black lines:

And you’d like to change the outline version to the normal artwork in Illustrator like this…

…read on, you are in the right place.

The easiest way to get out of Outline Mode in Adobe Illustrator is to use the Outline Mode Illustrator shortcut by pressing Command + Y on Mac or Ctrl + Y on Windows. Or go to the top menu bar and select View > Preview.

Here are the detailed steps and methods on how to turn off outline view in Illustrator:

Method 1: Use the Keyboard Shortcut Keys

To exit Outline Mode with the keyboard shortcuts, press Command + Y for Mac.

Or press Ctrl + Y for Windows.

Method 2: From the View Menu

You can also undo Outline Mode by selecting View on the Illustrator menu, then choose Preview in the dropdown menu.

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Method 3: From the Layers Panel

First, open the Layers Panel by going to Windows in the top menu. Then select Layers in the drop-done menu. Or go to Windows > Layers.

The Layers Panel will now open up. Then, press Command on your keyboard for Mac, and click the eye icon on the left column of the main layer at the same time.

Or Ctrl for Windows, and click the eye icon.

Final Thoughts

Have you been able to remove and add outlines? Any questions, drop them in comments below!