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How do I merge shapes and lines in Illustrator?

Last updated on January 9, 2023 @ 5:51 am

Shape Merging in Illustrator

If you want to merge two or more shapes together in Illustrator, you can use the Pathfinder panel. The Pathfinder panel can be accessed by choosing Window > Pathfinder. The Pathfinder panel will show the border, fill, and stroke options for the selected shapes.

Open window and select pathfinder in Illustrator

To merge shapes, first select the shapes that you want to merge. Next, click the Merge button in the Pathfinder panel. The Merge Shape dialog box will open.

In the Illustrator pathfinder tool select the merge option

PRO TIP: When merging shapes and lines in Illustrator, be careful not to inadvertently create new shapes or lines that you didn’t intend to. If you’re not careful, you can end up with a lot of extra clutter in your design.

In the Merge Shape dialog box, you can choose how to merge the shapes. You can also choose to retain the original proportions of the shapes, or you can stretch or contract the shapes.

 Choose how to merge the shapes and to retain original or save as new file in Illustrator

After you have merged the shapes, you can save the file as a new file or you can close the Pathfinder panel. The merged shapes will be located in the lower right corner of the Illustrator document.

You can also access the merged shapes by selecting the shapes and clicking the Copy button ( CTRL + C ). The merged shapes will be copied to the clipboard and can be pasted into another document.

Conclusion

In this article, we have shown you how to merge shapes and lines in Illustrator. The Pathfinder panel can be used to merge the shapes, and you can choose to stretch or contract the shapes.

Madison Geldart

Madison Geldart

Cloud infrastructure engineer and tech mess solver.