Merging shapes but want to keep the full strokes

[KiwiPeteAdobe]

Hi

I am trying to find out how to merge 2 or more shapes but keep the stroke outlines of all ahapes intact.  The reason I want to do this is so I can use the punch out or minus back,  over the entire flattened/combined shape.

Is this possible?

Many thanks for your help

[Monika Gause]

I don't understand what you want to do. Does your image show what you need or what you do not want?

[Kurt Gold]

Which version of Illustrator are you using?

Also, can you show how you would like it to appear after "merging" your objects? Your screenshot rarely explains what you want to achieve. What tools are you using to merge?

[KiwiPeteAdobe]

Hi, apologies for being too brief, does the attached give you enough background?

Many thanks

[Monika Gause]

I still don't get what you want to do.

Clipping mask doesn't solve it?

[Jacob Bugge]

Pete,

I wonder whether it may be relevant or just silly to mention Opacity Masks, which may be in some ways more flexible and easy to use than Clipping Masks, and less disruptive than Pathfinder operations.

[KiwiPeteAdobe]

Thanks all for your responses and help.

I will give the masks a go and see how I get on.

I did find that grouping a range of selected items from the object menu ribbon worked in many attempts, but gave some strange results at times.