Inspiring

Answered

Knife tool does not work

Forum|Forum|8 years ago
January 7, 2018
10 replies
43846 views

For some reason the knife tool will not work when I create a shape, no matter how I create it, I can create an ellipse or a rectangle and it still won't cut.

Has anyone else had this issue?

Correct answer Shanghai Road

If anyone finds this and is having the issue, after I drew my line, I had to double click to make the cut.

M

muhaim ss355223356mc7

Participant

Use the layer you want to cut separately, the knife tool is not working in groups.,, first ungroup IT .. it works 100%.

J

Jess28445320xylc

Known Participant

None of these answers work for me and Adobe Virtual Chat was a bust...any other takers?

Doug A Roberts

Community Expert

Can you show the objects you are trying to cut selected with the appearance and layers panels visible, describe exactly what you expect to happen when you use the knife tool and what happens instead.

J

Jess28445320xylc

Known Participant

Draw circle (Stroke sz 12, green, no fill)

Select knife tool

Drag across desired areas of circle

I think all of the tutorials I've seen including on Adobe give instructions for a solid circle only. When it's just a circle with no fill, it changes how the object is cut. I want it to cut - period. Not cut it and create a joining line from point to point

It's been like 2+ hours now and my client is less than pleased so I've had to pivot entirely away from this design idea.

C

crtxrr32

Participant

So I just ran into the same problem and checked this page for some answers. The isolated tip is helpful but didn't solve this problem for me; what did though was making sure I 'Create(d an) Outline' first. Mind you I am working with letterforms for typography. Right click to create outline, should be there when you scroll. Let me know if this help anyone! always makes my day.

S

Shanghai RoadCorrect answer

Inspiring

If anyone finds this and is having the issue, after I drew my line, I had to double click to make the cut.

H

hannahd18923945

Participant

Thank you! This worked for me

RLChris121

Participating Frequently

Very frustrating. Seeing exact issue as described.

1. draw ellipse.

2. select ellipse

3. select knife tool

4. draw line across ellipse with knife (line appears 20 pixels below where the cursor is for some reason = even with snaps turned off?)

5. reselect object and nothing has happened.

6. ends up with the original ellipse - unchanged

7. frustrating

>> An alternative that works all of the time for me is creating a cutting edge over the object you want to cut or trim, (using a line or another object) - select object to be altered and the cutting edge then use pathfinder's "Divide" mode. Then select and delete the portion(s) you want removed.

RLChris121

Participating Frequently

Quck note to above -- The divided objects after applying "pathfinder" > "divide", will be grouped - so simply "ungroup" and each object will be separate, so unwanted objects can be selected and deleted. Hope this is helpful for someone.

M

Marley C.

Inspiring

In case someone else finds this thread with the same issue I was having:

The knife tool does not seem to work on lines, only shapes. I wanted to cut out a segment of a line I had drawn, and it wouldn't work. Tested it with a square, and Bob's your uncle.

If you want to cut a segment out of a line, you'll need to draw your line using the square tool.

Thanks! 🙂

S

Sofia357683491uet

Participant

If you want to cut a line it's easier to use the scissors tool

M

MudHut

Participant

This appears to happen when the object is contained within a clipping mask. I've seen it happen when I have sub-layers and the main containing layer has a clipping mask, which clips everything in the sub-layers too. So try this: create a new layer that is not nested in any other layer. Move your object there. Try the knife tool now. If it works, you'll know it's the clipping mask that's intefering somehow.

Isolation mode also works because somehow it negates the clipping mask bug.

S

Sarath0101

Participant

Can someone help me to enable the slice tool in illustrator

Doug A Roberts

Community Expert

The slice tool is not related to the knife tool. If you can't access it in the Advanced toolbar (Window > Toolbars > Advanced) or by pressing Shift + K, I suggest you make a separate topic and give as many details as you can.

jane-e

Community Expert

Also:

If no objects are selected, the knife tool will cut across all shapes
If any objects are selected, it appears that the knife tool is cutting, but it will only cut the selected objects

If it isn't working, the first step is to confirm that nothing is selected or select the object you wish to cut.

What do you see when you try to cut and it fails?

Urbander

Participating Frequently

This is my first post to the community so - Hi!

I'm using illustrator 2020

I'm having the same issue with my knife tool not cutting. I have a shape that was created from a font. I converted the font into outlines, and then changed it into a compound path. I filled this shape with gray. With that new shape selected I grab my knife tool. Holding down alt/option to drag a straight line, and starting off the image, I drag a line but no slicing is happening. I did it with my mouse and with my wacom tablet - same result - no slicing.

Anyone have any ideas?

Urbander

Participating Frequently

Update:

I created a new shape, a basic ellipse, and the knife worked just the way it's supposed to. The only thing I can imagine is the original shape I was trying to cut up had an issue.