How to Add Borders in Illustrator

Written by Jack Lloyd

Last Updated: June 4, 2020 Tested

This wikiHow teaches you how to create a border—also known as a "stroke"—around content in Adobe Illustrator. You can do this on both Windows and Mac versions of Illustrator.

Steps

1
Open Illustrator. Its app icon resembles an orange "Ai" on a dark background.
2
Open your Illustrator project. Click Open..., then select an existing project. If you don't have an existing project, you can simply select a photo to get started.
- On some versions of Illustrator, you may first have to click File before selecting Open... in the drop-down menu.
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3
Click the "Typography" drop-down box. It's in the upper-right side of the page. A drop-down menu will appear.
- This box may also say "Start".
- If this box says "Essentials" in it, skip this step and the next one.
4
Click Essentials. This is near the top of the drop-down menu.
5
Select your content. Click the photo, text, or other element on the page that you want to outline.
6
Click the Window tab. It's at the top of the window (Windows) or the screen (Mac). A drop-down menu will appear.
7
Click Appearance. You'll find this near the top of the drop-down menu. The Appearance mini-window will open near your project.
8
Click ☰. It's in the top-right corner of the Appearance window. This will prompt a drop-down menu.
- The icon here actually has four horizontal lines instead of three.
9
Click Add New Stroke. It's in the drop-down menu. The Stroke menu will open.
10
Double-click the "Stroke" icon. It's a box wrapped around a smaller box in the lower-left corner of the window. This will open the Stroke Color window.
- You should see a white box with a red slash through it either behind or in front of the "Stroke" icon.
11
Select a color. Click and drag up or down the color bar on the right side of the window to change the overall color, then click a section on the gradient to select a specific iteration of that color.
12
Click OK. It's in the top-right corner of the Stroke Color window.
13
Click the Effect tab. This is at the top of the window or screen. Doing so prompts a drop-down menu.
14
Select Path. It's near the top of the Effect drop-down menu. A pop-out window will appear next to the Path option.
15
Click Outline Object. You'll see this in the pop-out window. A border will appear around your content.
16
Edit your border's thickness. In the Appearance window, you'll see a numbered box to the right of the "Stroke" heading. Clicking the upward-facing arrow to the left of this number will increase your border's thickness, while clicking the downward-facing arrow will decrease the thickness.
17
Save your changes. Click File, then click Save in the drop-down menu to save your changes to your project.
- You can also click Save As if you want to save this project separately, or if it's a new project. You'll then be prompted to enter a name and choose a save location.