How to Remove Part of a Stroke in Illustrator

November 5, 2019 |

There are a couple of ways that you can do this.

Using the Scissor Tool
Using the Pathfinder Panel
Using the Eraser Tool

Removing Part of a Stroke with the Scissor Tool

This is what I did in the above screen recording:

Select the Scissors Tool () from the toolbar or press the keyboard shortcut (c).
Click the two points to indicate the part of the stroke that you want to remove.
Select the Selection Tool () from the toolbar or press the keyboard shortcut (v).
Click the part that you cut with Scissors Tool and press the delete or backspace key.

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Removing Part of a Stroke with the Pathfinder Panel

Select your stroke with the Selection Tool () from the toolbar or press the keyboard shortcut (c).
Go to Object -> Path -> Outline Stroke to turn the stroke into a fill.
Draw a shape over your stroke.
Select both shapes with the Selection Tool or press the keyboard shortcut (v).
In the Pathfinder Panel, click the Minus Front Button ().

Removing Part of a Stroke with the Eraser Tool

To do this, you would follow steps 1 and 2 in the section above, then select the Eraser Tool () or press the keyboard shortcut (Shift + e), and erase whatever part of the stroke you want.

If this post helped you, I’d appreciate it if you shared it on social media or leave a comment below.

Posted in Graphic Design

16 Comments

Molly on April 7, 2020 at 8:29 am

So simple, but not knowing it resulted in hours of maddening frustration. Thanks much for this. Cheers.
Tom Nguyen on April 7, 2020 at 12:15 pm

Glad to help, and thanks for commenting. That inspires me to make more Illustrator blog posts.
Emma Bateman on January 26, 2021 at 4:13 am

oh my goodness. I was trying to figure that out by myself for ages and almost gave up allowing the artwork to not quite look right! glad I found this page! thank you for your tips!
Tom Nguyen on January 26, 2021 at 7:57 pm

Emma, thanks for letting me know. It puts a big smile on my face to hear that my blog post solved your problem, and you’ve given me inspiration to write more Illustrator blogs 🙂
Janet on July 8, 2021 at 9:33 pm

Thank you for this! I was going crazy trying to figure it out.
Tom Nguyen on July 9, 2021 at 6:38 pm

Thank you for commenting, Janet. It puts a smile on my face to know that I helped you 🙂
Marieke on September 29, 2021 at 9:57 am

This doesn’t work if you have a bend line. If I remove part of the bend stroke(for example a piece of a puzzle). the open shape ‘fills up’ in a straight line.
Jackie on February 3, 2022 at 4:45 pm

This little trick just saved my sanity. I was messing around for like 47 minutes until I gave up and found your article. Thanks a bunch!
Tom Nguyen on February 3, 2022 at 4:50 pm

You’re welcome. Thanks for letting me know 🙂
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