Text border or outline?

I looked around on the forum but could not find anybody who even asked this question.
How do I draw a border or outline around a piece of text? I tried using the graphic inspector to "stroke" the text. Unfortunately, it produces a border for the text box and not on the text itself.
So is there a way to draw a border around text?

Welcome to the forums!
Unfortunately, there is no (easy) way to treat text like other objects, such as adding a stroke. You can give the text a shadow, set the offset to 0, the blur to a low value, and the opacity at 100%, and this will give acceptable results if all you want is a very thin stroke.
To get a real stroke, the text needs to be turned into a real object. See this thread on how to do that with third-party apps.

Similar Messages

Why does some text convert to outlines when opening a PDF in AI?

I often have to open PDFs saved from InDesign CS5 in Illustrator CS5 (Mac). These PDFS are saved from InDesign using Press or PDFX1-a settings.
When I open them in AI, I get the warning that "to preserve appearance, some text has been outlined".
Of course, I do not want this to happen.
The text that gets outlined is nothing special. It is seemingly at random within a paragraph or within a cell of a table. In the screen shot below, live text has the blue underline; outlined text does not.
I can see no rationale for it. There is no transparency involved. Just black text on no background. There is no special "appearance" that needs to be preserved. Fonts are all Adobe OTF (Myriad Pro shown below).
Can anyone explain why this happens?

PDFs are not supposed to be edited as a rule.
Lots of odd things can happen to text (but also other objects) when you open a PDF - that is not a pdf with the editable Illustrator file saved within it - and try to edit it.
Illustrator is not a general purpose editor of pdf files.
PDF files are supposed to be an end-format, not a format that you edit.
What happens to text in a pdf when opened in Illustrator is perfectly normal. There isn't really much you can do about it except recreate the text in Illustrator from scratch, with the desired font, and re-export to the pdf-version you need.

Can only see text and image outlines

I am new and got stuck!
When I run the fla, it runs fine. However I have hit some setting and all I can see is the texts and image outlines...
Here are some screen shots:
This is what it looks like when i run it:
Please help! its probably the most fundamental thing ever but I am stuck and it is hot and I'm frustrated. Thank-you

Your timeline is set to outline view. At the top of the timeline, in the section where the names of each layer are shown, there are three icons: an eye, a lock and a box. Click on the box icon to switch between outline and normal view.

Some text after creating outlines fills with gadient

I have a few files in Illustrator CS that when I select all text and "create outlines" of them, about half of the text fills with black (normal), and the other half fill with a black to white gradient.
Has anyone else seen this?
Thank you very much for any information regarding this.

If you are working too fast and press the decimal point on the numeric key pad it will change all your selected vectors to grad fills. Could this be what is happening? I do this sometimes by accident when going for the ENTER key.

Is there a way to get rid of the JRadioButton Text Border

When a JRadioButton is selected, can you get rid of that text outline border?
Ex: http://course.cs.ust.hk/comp201/2007summer/users/yyuan/labs/lab4/jRadioButton.jpg

Nvm again, figured it out, the boolean setFocusable method is what controls it.
Edited by: vanillax on Nov 12, 2008 8:59 PM

How do I save a document without it saving the text/object box outlines?

Is it because I'm using the trial that I can't save a document without it showing the outline of every text/object box? I've not selected all, but that's what the saved document looks like...

You want Pages, not workstations, and you might want to bookmark Lion and MacBook Pro fora.
http://www.apple.com/support/pages/
http://www.apple.com/support/lion/
http://www.apple.com/support/macbookpro/

Text border wont reduce after a certain length

Right now I'm working on a border that will expand as the text width gets larger. and to have the border have a maxium size yet still be able to enter text.
What i'm having trouble with: Once I reach a certain width, backspace dosent reduce the border anymore.
// border code
if (inputTxt.width <= 160)
          inputTxt.border = true;
inputTxt.autoSize = TextFieldAutoSize.LEFT
} else{
          inputTxt.border = true;
          trace("working");
          inputTxt.autoSize = TextFieldAutoSize.NONE
// backspace code
key_bksp.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, bkspClickListener);
function bkspClickListener(e:MouseEvent):void{
          inputTxt.replaceText(inputTxt.text.length-1, inputTxt.text.length,'');
          inputTxt.border =true;
any help would be appericated

unless that border code is in some function or otherwise repeatedly executes, it doens't look like anything would dynamically change the autosizing of inputTxt.

PDF Export with Outlined Text, keeps non-outlined text box behind

I work with a printer that needs all text outlined and the file saved into a PDF.
Everytime I outlined my txt another box with non outlined text remains in the background.
I have to go through my document deleting the non outlined text boxes...seriously.
Anyone have a solution for this or have experienced anything similar?

I agree with the gentlemen above, but have on occasion been forced to outline fonts for printers as I have no authority to choose which printers my company works with.
Well put, Allison. I don't have any control over the printers used by my clients' clients, either. Or my clients' clients' clients. So occasionally the word comes back up the chain "All of the Arabic turned into question marks; please outline and resend."
Speaking of which: the cases in which live text is duped when converted to outlines, with one copy remaining live, are in my experience 1) when tables are used, and 2) when almost any Middle East version of InDesign is used. I think that maybe the leave-live-text-behind bug/feature has been fixed in ME edtions of CC but I'm not sure.

Converting .docx files to .eps and keeping the text editable (not outlines)?

I'm trying to batch convert a number of .docx files that each contain figures that have been created in Word (boxes, lines etc) in Acrobat 9 Pro to .eps.
I can create an .eps, using the document processing (batch processing) route, but when I open the files in Illustrator CS5 all of the editable text in the document has been converted to outlines. Ideally, I want to keep the text in the figure editable (and to create a slightly smaller file size)
I have checked the convert from PDF settings for Encapsulated PostScript and it shows 'Convert Text to Outlines' as false, the transparency settings have also been setup not to convert to outlines), can anyone help?

My thinking behind doing it via Acrobat 9 Pro was that I could take say 20 .docx files and via the document process function automatically convert them straight to .eps without having to make the PDF first. I also find using this route that I have an .eps that is already cropped to the four edges of the images (with no hidden characters making the image frame larger than the actual four edges of the figure).
When I import a PDF into Illustrator, I find that I'm getting the end of paragraph (hidden) markers from Word appearing (normally at the end of the image in Word, and some also appear before the figure where the author has hit return a few times). I then have to manually remove them so that the artboard fits to the four edges of the image. I guess I'm just trying to save a little time without having to go back into 20+ files and tidy them up by removing this character.

How do you expand text with an outline?

I'm trying to expand some type with a fill and an outline into a simple shape and am having a hell of a time (no surprise there.)
When I expand the text, the outline remains... an outline.
Here's what I'm doing: I'm trying to reproduce a logo. I set some type with Garamond and it needs to be just a bit thicker. So I added an outline and it looks good. Now I need just a shape, no text, no outline. Everytime I expand it the type expands but the outline doesn't.

For anyone else....
Object > Expand (object and fill)
then
Object > Expand (fill and stroke)
then
Pathfinder > Merge.
Or...
Type > Create Outlines
then
Object > Expand (fill and stroke)
then
Pathfinder > Merge.

CSS text shadow and outline.

Can I make a red text with a black outline and a shadow in
css?

Yes - I pointed that out much earlier in the thread. OP
didn't see the
relevance of it to the question, though. I thought a little
demo would
suffice.
Murray --- ICQ 71997575
Adobe Community Expert
(If you *MUST* email me, don't LAUGH when you do so!)
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"Thierry" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:gnipvh$l35$[email protected]..
> urray *ACE*" <[email protected]>
wrote in message
> news:gni6qi$t1h$[email protected]..
>> As I mentioned, there is no reason to think that you
cannot use both an
>> image and the text. Look -
>>
>> <h1>YOUR TEXT</h1>
>>
>> Start with that.
>>
>> Then do this -
>>
>> <h1 id="header"><img src="yourimage.jpg"
alt="" width="150" height="80"
>> />YOUR TEXT</h1>
>>
>> Then do this CSS -
>>
>> h1 { position:relative; overflow:hidden;
width:150px; height:80px; }
>> h1 img { position:absolute; }
>>
>> Watch the magic happen. If you want to safeguard
against text resizing,
>> you can set your dimensions in em units (make sure
you keep your aspect
>> ratio constant).
>
> The article/tutorial about this technique can be found
here:
>
http://www.tjkdesign.com/articles/tip.asp
>
>
> --
> Thierry | Adobe Community Expert | Articles and
Tutorials ::
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>

I applied a Photoshop effect to some outlined text - but the outlines still look the same?

1. I typed out the word
2. I created an outline of the word
3. I went to Effect>Photoshop Effects>Texture>Stained Glass and applied
However, if you look closely, the blue outlines ignore the the divots and holes created from the effet.
Is this effect just an overlay? I ask this because this design is for a t-shirt and I want it to look the same as it appears on my screen.
This may sound like a weird question but I'm just getting into Illustrator.
Thanks

Photoshop Effects produce raster images. You will have to use someting like a Grunge effect using actual vector objects for it to be useful for screening onto a tee-shirt.
Try looking here for some ideas
http://layersmagazine.com/designing-ultra-scenexcore-apparel.html

Can we stop Illustrator from outlining text in a PDF?

I've opened a pdf and get the following message, "To preserve appearance, some text has been outlined", that's it. There's no other errors. I have all the correct fonts and most of the pdf displays correctly. But every few lines or so there's a line or even just a couple of words that have been outlined by illy. This results in the text looking slightly bolder than the surronding text. I could just delete the outlined text and rewrite it, but since i'm updating just the address on about 20 product brochures I find it a massive inconvenience and a huge waste of time.
Any ideas?

The OP assked a reasonable question and the internet often hides intent.
So they did not realize it is hard for those on this side does not know the circumstance on their end withou them defining such condition.
But I will make a suggestion. It might be worth a try. Tell your superiors there is no way to opeen the file without the text being outline. Don't tell them you can replace the text' just that the only way to open the file without the text being outline is to buy the original app.
The worse they can tell you is to replace the text
and best is they might break down and not be so cheap.
And please don't get angry those people here on the forum who are taking their own time to help you.

Can AI simply outline everything in a PDF rather than preserve text as text?

I’m on a 2013 MacBook Pro running Mavericks using CS4. I am a composer of experimental music.
My workflow is as follows: I create a music score in a program called Sibelius - I export the file as a PDF - I open this PDF in Illustrator and edit it further.
This usually works great but occasionally I suddenly get the following error when I open a file: “to preserve appearance, some text has been outlined”. When I proceed to open the file the musical notes have been replaced with text letters and nothing as been outlined. In Sibelius, musical notes are actually text from a special font called Opus. I don’t care if AI treats the notes as text or simply as outlined objects as long as they look right and can be moved around.
Is there a way to make AI look at a PDF and not try to preserve the text but simply outline everything as individual objects so that they look the same as in the orignal PDF?
Thanks

Kurt, Thank you! In this case it seems to at least have given me a way around the font switching problem but now when I go to edit the document, I can only select individual objects (like a note-head for example) with the direct selection tool (A) because if I use the regular selection tool (V), it selects everything on the page at once. Basically, I'm forced to work on the level of individual points rather than with entire objects (I know there is jargon that would clarify what I mean that I'm not versed in, with apologies)
Mike, Thank you! I do it all the time. Usually AI has no problem with the font but every now and then, especially when I've been working on a large multi-page document for a long time it will give me this error and then I can't proceed. I'm hopeful that Kurt's solution will provide me with a (albeit slightly less convenient) way forward when that happens.
From reading other threads, the problem seems to be one with the nature of PDF files which are not intended to be edited so extensively and with extreme detail as I have been doing, that there is an inherent instability in editing PDF files with AI.

How do I create an outline around text please

hi all, How do I create an outline around text please
thanks,

You can see here that you can simply apply a stroke to live text by double clicking the stroke icon in the bottom left of the toolbar and selecting a color. I chose red.
If you select the text, then go to Type > Create Outlines, you get more options in the stroke palette, like whether the stroke is aligned to the outside or inside of the text object's boundary. The text below is outlined with the stroke aligned to the outside.

Text border or outline?

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