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Inspiring
March 28, 2016
Answered

Problems with joining paths

  • March 28, 2016
  • 1 reply
  • 62359 views

Could anybody please explain why I often get an error message when I try to join two lines? I can't reproduce the error now, but I found the message over at stackexchange:

"To join, you must select two open endpoints. If they are not on the same path, they cannot be on text paths nor inside graphs, and if both of them are grouped, they must be in the same group."

Or perhaps somebody could translate the message to English?

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer sebastian2012a

    Thank you for your reply Jacob, but I always make sure that I only select two anchor points.

    And I got another error message just now, saying that the selected objects can't be joined as they are invalid objects (Compound paths, text objects, graphs, live paint group). So there seems to be a lot of cases where the function just doesn't work.

    EDIT: I found a work-around: When paths can't be joined because they're a live paint group, that group can be Expanded. This closes gaps that can't otherwise be closed.

    1 reply

    Jacob Bugge
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    March 28, 2016

    Sebastian,

    You can only succeed if you select two end Anchor Points, one from each path to join.

    One thing that may go wrong is that you select multiple Anchor Points on at least one of the paths. This may happen if you have an extra Anchor Point (almost) coinciding with the end one and you ClickDrag over them or if the end one is beneath the other Anchor point in the order of the path. You may see whetheer the total number of Anchor Points is as expected for each path, and you may deselect and then Click the (presumed end Anchor Point, then move it a bit (with an arrow key or something) and see whether there is one underneath; you may then deletethe unwanted one or Ctrl/Cmd+Z to move it back.

    And then there  are the other requirements which you may consider.

    So you may investigate each case when it appears.

    sebastian2012aAuthorCorrect answer
    Inspiring
    March 28, 2016

    Thank you for your reply Jacob, but I always make sure that I only select two anchor points.

    And I got another error message just now, saying that the selected objects can't be joined as they are invalid objects (Compound paths, text objects, graphs, live paint group). So there seems to be a lot of cases where the function just doesn't work.

    EDIT: I found a work-around: When paths can't be joined because they're a live paint group, that group can be Expanded. This closes gaps that can't otherwise be closed.

    Jacob Bugge
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    March 28, 2016

    You are welcome, Sebastian.

    Nice to see it sorted.