Part of a shape won't delete out

[SamanthaAmpro]

I'm having a weird issue with deleting some text out of a shape in Illustrator.

I didn't create this and I'm not sure how it was built and can even find an easy enough work around but I'm curious about why this is happening.

I have a some pretty standard vector text over a shape.

You can see all the expected paths are there.

But what I go to delete the blue parts out of the black shape I encounter the issue.

Close up:

I can't get rid of that part in the R I N!

I've tried using merge, flatten transparency, expand, etc. but nothing seems to do it. Illustrator doesn't identify it as a path. It looks raster but there's no raster graphics in the file. Anyone know what could be going on here?

[barbara_a]

I'd have to see the actual file to know what's going on. You can post a link to it if you like.

What does it look like in Outline view?

[tromboniator]

This looks like the graphics card glitch. Press cmd/ctrl-E to switch from GPU to CPU preview. You can also go to Preferences > Performance io turn off GPU Performance. Then check for updates to your graphics card.

Peter.

[jane-e]

Check for a locked object or a locked layer in the Layers panel. Show a screen shot if you need to.

[jdanek]

I wonder if there is an open path somewhere in the "N"?  Did you try Pathfinder > Minus Front ( or Divide )?

[jdanek]

I just recreated the artwork and had no problem using Pathfinder > Divide and then deleting the text.  Make sure that rectangle is a closed path, too.  If you have to, delete the rectangle and create a new one.  See if that solves it.  Do you have a file with live text?  Always create copies along the way so you can easily revert back to a previous version.

[jdanek]

I think this is what you are after...

The light blue text is "live", the white text was outlined, the Red rectangle shows visually the text has been removed.

[Anna Lander]

what is there in the black-white object? Looks like a raster-filled letter forms or a damaged vector form.

The first case might appear if the original was created, for example, in Corel Draw or another third-side vector editor and exported into adobe-compatible format. Then you can use the Clipping Mask > Release command to extract and delete this fill.

In case of the damaged path, just use the blue item and fill it like you wish.

[Ares Hovhannesyan]

Screenshot of Appearance Panel can be helpful. Select text,open Appearance Panel and make a capture.

May be should be  easier to uncolor stroke? Did you try that?

[Jacob Bugge]

Samantha,

Whichever the (non) reason, you may consider your getting round it with Live Paint.

How to create and work with Live Paint groups in Illustrator

[robertCmullins · Accepted solution]

I had a similar weird issue where there was a rectangle that would kinda 'highlight' but I couldn't seem to actually 'SELECT' it because it wasn't an object.  Somehow I had created an artboard on top of my working artboard.  Go to the artboards and delete the one you don't want if someone is having this issue as well.