Stroke or border settings are not visible or applied

Symptoms

If one or more of these match what you are seeing, you are on the right page.

• •No stroke appears however the color is set
• •The stroke is visible but far thinner than expected
• •The shape appears larger or smaller than its stated dimensions
• •Corners are cut off instead of pointed

Causes and fixes

Ordered from most to least likely. Work down the list — each cause is paired with what to do about it.

1. 1

   The stroke is switched off.

   Turn on the Stroke toggle in the Properties Panel. Each shape can have one stroke.

2. 2

   Stroke weight is at the bottom of its range.

   Valid weights run from 0.1px to 500px. At 0.1px a stroke is effectively invisible at normal zoom — raise it.

3. 3

   Stroke alignment is changing the apparent size.

   Center alignment straddles the path, half inside and half outside. Inside keeps the stroke within the shape boundary and Outside puts it entirely beyond it. This matters whenever positional accuracy does.

4. 4

   The miter limit is converting sharp corners to bevels.

   Miter joins produce pointed corners but auto-convert to Bevel once the point extends past the miter limit. Raise the limit, or choose Round joins for consistency.

5. 5

   A gradient stroke is expected but solid color is configured.

   Stroke color is solid by default. Enable gradient stroke, then choose Along Stroke (start to end of path) or Across Stroke (inner to outer edge).

Related pages