Editing Text in Adobe Illustrator

Can you count how many different ways you can edit text in Illustrator? There are definitely more than just one or two ways! You can edit text with the options found in the Paragraph panel, Character panel, Pathfinder panel, Color panel, etc. This tutorial will show how you can edit text while it’s a text object and after it’s been converted into editable paths.

For today’s tutorial, we’ll be using the fun bold font called Raging. Feel free to use any font. Maybe you’ll want to use one of these funky fonts from Font Bundles.

Before we start, if you'd rather learn by watching, check out the video below!

Step 1 - Add Text

Select the Type Tool (T), click on the artboard, and enter your text. Select the font you would like to use in the Control panel at the top and adjust the size.

Step 2 - Edit Text Color

Fill Color

To change the fill color of the text, select a color from the Color panel, the Color Guide panel, or the Swatches panel. You can even fill the text with a gradient.

Stroke Options

Stroke Color

You can change the stroke color in the same way as the fill color, but make sure you click the Stroke icon in the left toolbar first.

Stroke Options

Then you can edit the stroke options in the Stroke panel (Window > Stroke).

Step 3 - Edit Text Using the Paragraph and Character Panels

When editing text using the Paragraph and Character panels, the text will stay as a text object.

Paragraph Panel

Go to Window> Type > Paragraph to open the Paragraph panel.

In the Paragraph panel, you can adjust the alignment of the text, indent settings, and spacing before/after a paragraph. The Paragraph panel can also be accessed in the Control panel at the top by clicking on the word ‘Paragraph.’

Select the text object first with the Selection Tool (V), and then make any adjustments. In the following image, we aligned the text to the center.

Character Panel

Go to Window > Type > Character to open the Character panel.

In the Character panel, you can change the following options:

• Font
• Font style (bold, italic, etc.)
• Font size

• Kerning - the distance between pairs of letters
• Leading - the spacing between each line

• Tracking - the distance between each letter

Again, the Character panel can be accessed via the Control panel by clicking on the word ‘Character.’

Step 4 - Edit Text as Editable Paths

For this method of editing text, we will first have to convert the text object into editable paths by creating outlines.

Duplicate Text Object Layer

This method is a destructive form of editing. Meaning, once we create the outlines of the letters, the only way to get back to the original form is to Undo (Ctrl/Cmd + Z) each step you’ve done.

It will no longer be a text object, so you may want to make a copy of the text object in case you want to make any changes to the text later on.

To duplicate the text object layer, open the Layers panel (Window > Layers). Then click + drag the text object layer down to the Create New Layer icon. You can click the eye icon on one of the layers to hide it, so you don’t accidentally edit it.

Create Outlines of the Text

Creating outlines of the text allows us to access and edit each letter and its anchor points separately. With the text object selected, go to Type > Create Outlines (Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + O). You can also right-click on the selected text object and choose Create Outlines.

Ungroup the Letters

Next, right-click on your selected text and ungroup the letters.

Change Fill and Stroke of Each Letter

Once the letters have been ungrouped, you can edit each individual letter's fill and stroke colors the same way we showed earlier in this tutorial.

Change the Shape by Moving Anchor Points

To change the shape of your letters, click on the Direct Selection Tool (A). Then select one anchor point and click + drag the anchor point to move it.

To move several anchor points at the same time, you can click + drag over the anchor points to select them. Then, click + drag one of the selected anchor points.

Create Empty Space Around the Letters

Another modification you can make to the letters is to create empty space around them using Pathfinder tools to cut away parts of the letters.

Overlap Letters

With the Selection Tool (V), move the letters until they slightly overlap the letter(s) next to them.

Open Pathfinder Panel

Open the Pathfinder panel by going to Windows > Pathfinder.

Duplicate a Letter and Shift It to the Left

Select the letter you would like to use to cut another letter with. Then Copy (Ctrl/Cmd + C) and Paste in Front(Ctrl/Cmd + F). Slightly shift the duplicate letter to the left.

Remove Part of the Letter on the Left Using Minus Front

Once the letter is where you want it, hold Shift and select the letter to its left. Then go to the Pathfinder panel and click on Minus Front.

Minus Front will remove the new letter and part of the overlapped letter to the left. Repeat this if you want to remove more of the overlapped letter.

Note: if Minus Front isn’t working for you, try using Minus Back instead. We removed parts of the left letter, but you can do this with the letters on the right as well.

Repeat for the Rest of the Overlapping Letters

Repeat this for the rest of the letters. See our results below.

We hope you found this tutorial helpful with editing text in Adobe Illustrator! In addition to the ways mentioned in this tutorial, you can also edit text using the Touch Type Tool. It’s actually a really cool tool, so go and look at the tutorial we have on it.