creating a stroke on the outside of an object

[Kecat23784016vaai]

I have a drawing an object:

I want to add a stroke but only to one side, the outside of this circle, in other words, on the same side as that red box. How can I get this done?

[Monika Gause]

Please show the outline of this. And also this thing in the layers panel. What is it?

[Jacob Bugge]

Kecat,

As I (mis)understand it, you can:

0) Copy the artwork and lock the original;

1) If you wish to exclude any outside parts such as the part at the top left gouing out from the circle, delete it it before proceeding further;

2) Select the copy artwork and Object>Compound Path>Release, then Pathfinder>Unite to get one solid path, then Object>Path>Offset Path by half the desired Stroke Weight, then switch from fill to stroke and set the desired colour and (full) Stroke Weight;

3) Delete the solid path from 2) and unlock the original artwork.

With this, you ought to have the original artwork tightly surrounded on the outside by a stroked path.