From all the posts I've read, you should be able to have individual gradients per letter once you add a non-destructive outline in the Appearance Panel. I've even seen the steps described many times. However, trying to add an individual gradient per letter/number does not work no matter what method I use to add the gradient fill. The letters only show black or show the gradient across all letters - no matter what gradient I choose. There's seems to be a bug, because I've tried several different ways of adding the colors, even selecting each letter individually, and it will not change. Single colors change fine. Destructively outlining it and adding a gradient works fine as well.
Baine
From all the posts I've read, you should be able to have individual gradients per letter once you add a non-destructive outline in the Appearance Panel. I've even seen the steps described many times. However, trying to add an individual gradient per letter/number does not work no matter what method I use to add the gradient fill. The letters only show black or show the gradient across all letters - no matter what gradient I choose. There's seems to be a bug, because I've tried several different ways of adding the colors, even selecting each letter individually, and it will not change. Single colors change fine. Destructively outlining it and adding a gradient works fine as well.
iMac
Illustrator 23.0.1
macOS High Sierra 10.13.6