How to convert text to curves?????

[kelleCoughdrop]

Hi all,

I have a document that i need to send to a printes and they have informed me that I need to convert any text to curves!!!!!  I am very new to Illustrator and I have no idea how to do this.

Is there anyone that could please help me?

Thanks

Kelle

[KC29]

Select all the text on the document

Then go to  > Type > Create outlines

Make sure you save a version for yourself where this hasn't been done, because once a document has been converted like this you can't undo it

[defaultwuopayc3kz63]

Hi,

New to illustrator as well. When I select my text and go to the >Type > Create Outlines menu items it is greyed out. Not sure how to correct this.

Thanks

Kevin

[Monika Gause]

When you go into VIew > Outline view - is the text black? If not, it's not text.

Can you perhaps show a screenshot?

[Anshul_Saini]

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out. I would suggest you check and confirm the following things:

• Check in the layer panel if you have selected the correct text layer.
• Check if you have chosen "Selected tool," not "Type tool" while going to the Type menu to select Create Outlines option.
• Check if it is text, not an image with text.

Also, I would request you to share a few more details like:

• OS and version of Illustrator
• Is the issue related to a specific document?
• Could you please share the document with us in which you are facing this issue? You can upload it to the Creative Cloud (https://helpx.adobe.com/in/creative-cloud/help/share.html) and share the download link.
• Screenshot of this issue, including Layers panel and Tools panel.
• Does resetting Illustrator Preferences ( https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/setting-preferences.html) help to resolve the issue?
  Disclaimer: Please note that resetting preferences will remove all the custom settings, and Illustrator will launch with default settings. You can also take a backup of the folders in case you want to. Location is mentioned in the article.

I will be looking forward to your response.

Thanks & Regards,

Anshul Saini

[defaultwuopayc3kz63]

Hopefully this is viewable.

[Anshul_Saini]

Thank you for sharing the screenshot. In your layer panel, it is showing a group. Could you please expand that group and share a screenshot of it? I guess your text is already converted to outlines. That is why it is showing a group in the Layers panel. In addition to the question asked by @Monika Gause, are you able to select an individual alphabet/ character and resize or change its color?

Regards,

Anshul Saini

[Monika Gause]

There is a faint blue line along the letter shapes. Looks like it is already outlined.

[defaultwuopayc3kz63]

Here is the expanded layer screenshot. I was able to select one letter and change it. ok, this is weird I earlier I thought I was adding a line around the lettering since I wasn't able to find a tool to Bold the letters. That tool was at the bottom of the Properties section but went away after I used it.

So the Create Outlines at the bottom of the Properties under Quick Actions is the same tool?

This leads me to my next question: How do I make lettering bold?

Thank you for your time on this!

Kevin 

[Anshul_Saini]

Thank you for sharing the screenshot. Yes, the Create Outlines option at the bottom of the Properties under Quick Actions is the same tool under the Type menu.
To make letters bold, you will need to use a Font in which a bold instance of that font is available.

Some fonts don't have a bold instance available in that case; you can't make text bold.

But you may try this workaround to make text bold even if they don't have Bold instance available - Select text > Create Outlines > Go to Object menu > Path > Offset path. You may check out this YouTube tutorial (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8bUa-ZmYaA) on how to do that.

Let us know if you need any further assistance. We'd be happy to help.

Thanks & Regards,

Anshul Saini

[Test Screen Name]

One other thing: there is NO GOING BACK. Once it's curves you can't edit it, not even to fix a simple typo. So ALWAYS keep the last file before you converted to curves. And if you need a change, fix the earlier file and convert to curves again. We often hear from people who haven't kept the old, and now have to redo all their work.