How to Add Borders in Illustrator

Written by Jack Lloyd

Last Updated: March 19, 2024 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.

Creating Borders With the Stroke Panel

Select the content you want to add a border to.
Click ☰ and select Add New Stroke.
Double-click the Stroke icon.
Select a color and line thickness.
Click OK.

Steps

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Its app icon resembles an orange "Ai" on a dark background.
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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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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.
This is near the top of the drop-down menu.
Click the photo, text, or other element on the page that you want to outline.
It's at the top of the window (Windows) or the screen (Mac). A drop-down menu will appear.
You'll find this near the top of the drop-down menu. The Appearance mini-window will open near your project.
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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.
It's in the drop-down menu. The Stroke menu will open.
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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.
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.
It's in the top-right corner of the Stroke Color window.
This is at the top of the window or screen. Doing so prompts a drop-down menu.
It's near the top of the Effect drop-down menu. A pop-out window will appear next to the Path option.
You'll see this in the pop-out window. A border will appear around your content.
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.
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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.