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beverlyyu
Participant
October 28, 2017
Answered

How do I draw from an existing anchor point without having the pen tool switch to the delete anchor point tool?

  • October 28, 2017
  • 5 replies
  • 30793 views

Say I am trying to draw a vertical line inside this square. I want it to connect from the anchor point at the top in the middle. The pen keeps changing into a delete anchor point tool when I hover over the anchor point. How do I get it to function like a normal pen tool?

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Correct answer twinbrush

Hi beverlyyu​

I'm not sure if you got sorted with that issue or not, but from my experience ignore the talk of 'you can't draw from an internal path' you absolutely can in your case, or at least there's a work around that will allow you to.

As Ray mentions above, knock the auto add/delete off in preferences just to be safe. Once your rectangle is drawn out hold down ctrl and click anywhere in your artboard that doesn't contain an object or path to deselect it. You should now be able to click on the top center anchor point then hold shift and click on the bottom center anchor without deleting the existing points. A good rule of thumb for doing that is to make sure smart guides are on (just to make sure you're getting the new points exactly in the middle). You can do that by going to view  > smart guides.

If that fails to work, using the pen tool, click in the middle of your rectangle, hold shift and click again on the top center anchor point. Then using the direct selection arrow (The white arrow in your tools panel...press A on your keyboard for a shortcut), click on the bottom anchor point of the new path you've drawn, then holding shift, click and drag the point down until it snaps to the bottom center anchor point of your rectangle.

Hope that helps. When I'm drawing shapes like that (especially if they have a solid color fill), I click inside the shape somewhere to start a new path, then click on the anchor point I need to continue from, and draw out the rest of the additional shape(s) I need. They can be cleaned up using the unite feature in the pathfinders options once I'm happy.

5 replies

twinbrush
twinbrushCorrect answer
Inspiring
September 6, 2018

Hi beverlyyu​

I'm not sure if you got sorted with that issue or not, but from my experience ignore the talk of 'you can't draw from an internal path' you absolutely can in your case, or at least there's a work around that will allow you to.

As Ray mentions above, knock the auto add/delete off in preferences just to be safe. Once your rectangle is drawn out hold down ctrl and click anywhere in your artboard that doesn't contain an object or path to deselect it. You should now be able to click on the top center anchor point then hold shift and click on the bottom center anchor without deleting the existing points. A good rule of thumb for doing that is to make sure smart guides are on (just to make sure you're getting the new points exactly in the middle). You can do that by going to view  > smart guides.

If that fails to work, using the pen tool, click in the middle of your rectangle, hold shift and click again on the top center anchor point. Then using the direct selection arrow (The white arrow in your tools panel...press A on your keyboard for a shortcut), click on the bottom anchor point of the new path you've drawn, then holding shift, click and drag the point down until it snaps to the bottom center anchor point of your rectangle.

Hope that helps. When I'm drawing shapes like that (especially if they have a solid color fill), I click inside the shape somewhere to start a new path, then click on the anchor point I need to continue from, and draw out the rest of the additional shape(s) I need. They can be cleaned up using the unite feature in the pathfinders options once I'm happy.

Doug A Roberts
Community Expert
Doug A RobertsCommunity Expert
Community Expert
September 6, 2018

twinbrush  wrote

Hi beverlyyu 

I'm not sure if you got sorted with that issue or not, but from my experience ignore the talk of 'you can't draw from an internal path' you absolutely can in your case, or at least there's a work around that will allow you to.

When people post that, they mean that you can't draw a connected path from an internal point. of course you can draw a path on top of an existing internal point, though, if you have auto add/delete off and/or the path deselected.

    twinbrush
    twinbrush
    Inspiring
    September 6, 2018

    Bang on the money Doug I just thought it was worth mentioning that in Beverly's case its not an absolute 'no-go'. Sometimes people will scan read and really just see the 'you can't' portion of the message.

    As you've mentioned though "of course you can draw a path on top of an existing internal point, though, if you have auto add/delete off and/or the path deselected." Its difficult to know if Beverly wants to just add an additional 'aesthetic' line on top, or if its something more functional in terms of actually dividing the rectangular path

    A
    Adobe Employee
    ashu_gupta
    Adobe Employee
    October 30, 2017

    Hi ,

    First way to draw using pen tool

    Press Shift and Click on the anchor point using pen tool, it will not convert to delete anchor point tool , and create a new anchor point of another path

    Another way to draw using pen tool :

    If it is necessary to connect anchor point   i.e. want to draw using single path only, then follow this procedure :

    You cannot draw using the pen tool, unless it is an end point. So, you can try scissor tool ( shortcut : C ) . Click on the location over the stroke to break stroke and create anchor points .

    Now you can select pen tool and click the anchor point to connect the anchor point at the top, you can continue to draw using pen tool now.

    Thanks and Regards

    Ashutosh Gupta

    Ray Yorkshire
    Ray Yorkshire
    Participating Frequently
    October 28, 2017

      You can  hold down keyboard  Shift key before you click., which  will stop the pen tool changing to the  Delete/ Add anchor point tool and act normally.

    Or to stop the pen tool, trying to guess what you want to do next and automatically changing itself into one of it's sub tools, off altogether:

    Edit > Preferences  and select Disable Auto Add/Delete

      Monika Gause
      Community Expert
      Monika GauseCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      October 28, 2017

      You cannot connect it to a closed path. Deselect the rectngle and then draw the line.

      Bill Silbert
      Community Expert
      Bill SilbertCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      October 28, 2017

      You cannot draw from an interior point in a path. You can only draw from an endpoint. You will have to draw a separate line and place it into the inside of your rectangle. If you ultimately want this as a single unit you will have to make all of the strokes into outlined paths through the Object Menu to Paths to Outline Stroke and then use the Unite option in the Pathfinder Panel.

      The top picture shows the object as unconnected strokes. In the bottom picture the strokes have been outlined and the Unite option (Highlighted in red) has been applied to make it a single unit.

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