Convert Text Frame to Shape
Convert text frame to regular shape while preserving geometry and appearance
Please add a command to convert a rectangular text frame into a regular vector shape while preserving its exact dimensions, position, fill, stroke, and stroke weight.
For example:
1 Select a rectangular area-text frame with a stroke.
2 Choose Object > Content > No Content (similar to InDesign), or another appropriate command.
3 Illustrator converts the text frame into a regular rectangular vector path.
4 The exact geometry and appearance remain unchanged.
This is particularly useful when working with Illustrator files that contain text frames which need to become graphic frames after the text has been removed.
Adobe InDesign already provides this workflow through Object > Content, allowing the content type of a frame to be changed without recreating the frame.
In Illustrator, the user currently has to recreate the rectangle manually, even though the required geometry already exists in the text frame. This is unnecessary work and can also introduce small dimensional or positioning errors.
The desired result is simply: Text frame > regular vector rectangle, while preserving position, width, height, fill, stroke and stroke weight.
ThnX in advance!
sgrhill
shared this idea
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Actually Illustrator allows this without any recreation, but not with a menu command like InD is having (and Ai won’t have it probably, because it doesn’t have frames as a construct). You need to select the path only (Group selection is the best tool to do this), copy it, deselect, paste in place. The path keeps its appearance.
The Control panel doesn’t have a button to quickly switch between the area type as a wholesome object and its path (similar to what InD has and to the toggle we see when working with clip groups), but nobody requested to see one yet.
