If you’re like most people, you probably use outlines to help organize your thoughts before you start writing. But what if you don’t have time to create an outline? Or what if you don’t want to use one? Illustrator is a great tool for creating outlines without having to spend time creating them. Here’s how:

  1. Open the document that you want to outline and select the Artboard tool (Window > Artboard).
  2. Click on the empty area of the artboard and type in a title for your outline. For example, “Outline 1.”
  3. Select the Rectangle tool (M) and draw a rectangle that’s about twice as wide as it is tall. Leave a little space at the top and bottom of your rectangle so that you can write in it later.
  4. Select the Text tool (T) and type in your outline title in the text box at the top left of Illustrator.
  5. Select all of the text in your title box and press Ctrl+A (Command+A on Macs). This will select all of the text in your document, including any text that’s inside of other objects on your artboard (like circles or rectangles).
  6. With all of the text selected, go to Object > Path > Offset Path . In the dialog box that pops up, enter -5px into both fields and click OK . This will create an offset path between each letter in your title and its corresponding location on your artboard (see Figure 1). FIGURE 1: The offset path created in step 6 ensures that each letter is positioned correctly when we add our outline lines later on. 7. With everything still selected, go to Object > Path > Outline . In the dialog box that pops up, enter 5px into both fields and click OK . This will create two lines along each side of your rectangle—one ..