can't align a stroke to inside

[kililio]

Hi,

I 've created a shape (Rectangle) , Applied a rounded corners, expand appearance, and a linear gradient.

After that i added a stroke in the appearance panel (2pt wide), filled it with white and when I wanted to align this stroke to inside

I can't.  The options "Align Stroke to inside" "Align Stroke to Outside" are greyed out .

What's wrong ?

Thank you

[Kurt Gold]

It may be an open path although it looks like a closed path. Aligning strokes inside or outside does only work on closed paths.

[sinrise]

This is one of the dumber things that still somehow exist in Illustrator. Why? What if you only want a stroke on one segment of a path? I'd use that ALL the time. If I could put the stroke on one side or another of the actual path, closed or not, it would allow the same result. I love Illustrator but there is bafflingly stupid stuff that Adobe just seems to ignore. You can save the "you're using it wrong" comments. I get it.

[AOSC - Brian Foster]

I sympathize with SINRISE...Adobe tools should be more consistent in use across all products - INDD, AI, PSD, etc. The things you can do in one program, you can't do in another. [Grrrr...]

[JeremyLaBrooy]

See fernandolins golden tip below

[marcusa83749082]

OMG. I was given a file with shapes in it that honestly looked like closed paths but when I double-checked the option to "Join" was available so I clicked it and voila all my problems went away! Thank you!

[DGlacier]

Ah, thanks!

[Monika Gause]

You can easily achieve it with a custom width profile in version CS5

[warm_reality157F]

Hi Kililio

If your shape is using brushes you cannot select align inside or outside (just to center). Also if you have a custom width profile you cannot select that align options too. But using width profiles (or the Width Tool) you could achieve the result you want..as Monika mentioned.

Best Regards

Gustavo.

[lalip74730876]

Another user friendly feature from Adobe...

[Mike_Gondek · Accepted solution]

Following your steps, I suspect you added a stroke at the group level. At the group level your option will be greyed out. Yo need to ungroup after your expand appearance.

Try using the appearance panel often, there are many very important features there.

[kililio]

Thanks a bunch guys !!!

@Mike Gondek , I use the Appearance Panel all dayyyy every day it's my bread and butter , i really like the color panel too , just on top of it ( I got "like photoshop" workspace set up )

thank you a bizillion very much !

[fernandolins86]

If you have imported the vector from another document or SVG or PDF file, Control+J / Command+J will join the loose ends and help you out on most cases

[markdaniel_]

This worked for me. Thanks fernandolins!

[maz015]

Thanks fernandolins86- your comment was perfect.

[JeremyLaBrooy]

Thanks fernandolins! Hit the bulleye

[julienb27532306]

You're a star, thank you!

[andyo29574584]

Yes! This is it. This is the one! Thank you Fernando!

[Cindy1643]

The "correct answer" doesn't work for me. I am working with a single, ungrouped object. Expanding appearance does nothing; aligning stroke to either inside or outside is greyed out. Period.

[Monika Gause]

Cindy1643 schrieb:

The "correct answer" doesn't work for me. I am working with a single, ungrouped object. Expanding appearance does nothing; aligning stroke to either inside or outside is greyed out. Period.

Then please create your own thread, because your problem is different.

Post a screenshot.

[Sophie_issa]

expand the shape then expand appearance, then try.
Worked for me.

[CyberGolem]

Thank you but sadly not working. I ungrouped and even checked for open paths but nada. The options still don't appear.

[Monika Gause]

Yo mean you have tried since 2018?

Can you perhaps show something?

Your problem path and the layers and the appearance panel (path needs to be selected)

[CyberGolem]

Thanks for the reply. Looks like rebooting Illustrator did the trick... go figure. ~Cheers!

[rickwtexas]

This glitch has just caused me to lose 5 hours of work after drawing a complicated floorplan and then finding out the client wants EXACT dimensions based on inside stroke measurement -  and this after cutting up the all the open paths for door openings. No way to re-align the stroke. Darn.