How can I select just ONE letter in outlined text?

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
March 4, 2023
6 replies
6874 views

I have outlined some text, and want to make adjustments by selecting single individual letters, one by one.

Even though I have ungrouped the word/selection - it won't let me select just ONE letter at a time.

How can I do this? Surely there is a simple way to do this.

Any help much appreciated, thank you.

Type

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V

Venus32882917y1b2

Participating Frequently

I was able to do this easily years ago by selecting the outlined word, and ungrouping it, then all the letters were separated and selectable. However, Adobe seems to have changed the settings in recent years that the ungrouping feature doesn't actually separate the letters anymore. I can see where the letters overlap but can't actually select them individually. Some suggested using the Directional Select Tool but what it does is to drag and select a path where the letter hits, and there's usually a lot of fixing up to do. I don't understand about the change at all. I actually use the outline feature A LOT and it starts to become a pain whether I have to select individual letters.

James Gifford—NitroPress

Legend

ETA: Just noticed this is a verbose version of Steve's post above. Didn't see it before but I will leave the longer explanation here.

You're correct, ungroup doesn't work (don't recall if it ever did in ID). But you can separate letters and other discrete elements by selecting all of that object's points (with the direct select tool), cut with Ctrl-X, paste with either Ctrl-V (object will paste in the center of the view) or Ctrl-Alt-Shift-V (paste in place). The letter is now a separate graphic element, and you can do the same for components of a letter (such as stroke and dot of an i).

But I'll second that outlining letters is a practice that should be limited to very selected, generally larger "art" text and almost nothing else. And used only when styles and the like can't do what you want.

Robert at ID-Tasker

Legend

Would require some more optimisation to speed it up, but I hope it's at least fun to watch.

And here is a new version - after some "optimisation" - but not that it took me so long to figure it out how to make it work quicker.

Now it should be much more "user friendly".

HARSHIKA_VERMA

Community Manager

Hi @TypoMan23,

Hope you're doing well!

We would like to follow up on your issue. Are you able to resolve the issue by following our expert advice? Please feel free to update the discussion if you need further assistance.

We would be happy to help.

Thanks,

Harshika

Brad @ Roaring Mouse

Community Expert

As mentioned, Direct Selection is the way to go, but as Steve mentions, one has to drag a selection around the one letter, but that still does not isolate it for application of a new fill or stroke to just that one letter... it will still apply the new fill/stroke to entire compounded word. Instead, the individual letter(s) needs to be actually cut and then pasted back into position. This retains the proper behaviour for the counters that would be otherwise be broken by using Pathfinder Release Compound route, but the drawback is the cut/pasted letters are no longer grouped with the rest of the word, but that can be redone afterwards.

You can drag select around multiple letters and cut and paste and those will stay compounded together.