How to thicken outlined strokes in Illustrator

The Reform Plugin from Astute Graphics allows you to constant offset any path in Illustrator. In this quick tip we’ll show you some of the useful Reform Preferences and how you can easily thicken any outlined stroke.

Read on to see how you can thicken your outlined strokes with one tool in Illustrator:

➡️ Open up your Reform Panel. It’s found under Window > Astute Graphics > Reform.

➡️ This artboard is really busy, and it’s hard to see the default blue. So, to change the annotations color click the 3 bar flyout menu on the Reform panel. Here you can change the Annotation and Target colors to something that will stand out against your artwork.

➡️ Also we are going to check the Edit Selected Paths Only, so we don’t target the wrong shapes.

➡️ Click OK, then Click in the Reform Panel to activate the Reform Tool. If you forgot to select your target shape beforehand, then hold down the Command key and select it.

➡️ Now as you hover over the path the annotation color will highlight the paths you can Reform.

➡️ Holding down the Alt/Opt key will highlight the entire path, and as you click and drag out it will create a constant offset around the entire shape previewed with your Target color.

➡️ You can use the Reform Panel to enter an exact offset value, click Reset to cancel your offset, or click Apply/ Return on the keypad to confirm the changes.