Combining and cutting shapes with Pathfinder
Last updated: October 5, 2026 · 5 minute read
Build one new shape from ready-made shapes and pen paths by uniting them, cutting one out of another, keeping their overlap or turning the overlap into a hole.
Pathfinder turns the selected objects into a single pen path for good: after the command the source objects leave the page and the resulting path takes their place. Curves are not flattened, and rotation, skew and corner radius are built into the result. Cmd/Ctrl+Z brings the source objects back in one step. If you only want objects to move together, group them instead; Pathfinder merges shapes permanently.
Steps
- 1
Arrange the objects
EditorCanvas
Overlap the shapes and paths so they form the outline you want. For Minus front, the object to cut from must be at the back and the cutting objects in front of it. Change the order by dragging rows in the Layers panel, or right-click and use Bring to Front and Send to Back.
- 2
Select them together
EditorCanvas
Click the first object and Shift-click the others, or drag a marquee from an empty area. Small overlapping objects are easier to pick by Shift-selecting their rows in the Layers panel.
- 3
Open the Pathfinder menu
PropertiesPathfinder
Press the Pathfinder button at the end of the alignment row at the top of the right panel; the list holds Unite, Minus front, Intersect and Exclude. The same commands, with their shortcuts, are in the Pathfinder submenu of the context menu.
If the selection cannot be used with Pathfinder, the commands do not appear. Check the selection and locks.
- 4
Unite
PropertiesPathfinderUnite
Merges every selected object into one outline; overlapping edges disappear. The stacking order does not change the result. Unite a circle with a rectangle for a tag or speech-bubble shape. Shortcut: Control+Command+U on Mac, Ctrl+Alt+U on Windows.
- 5
Minus front
PropertiesPathfinderMinus front
Cuts the area of every object in front out of the backmost object. The back object is the base; the front objects leave the page and only the space they cut remains. Cut a circle from the corner of a card to make a notch; select more objects and they are all cut at once. Shortcut: Control+Command+S, or Ctrl+Alt+S on Windows.
If the result is not what you expected, undo and check in the Layers panel that the right object is at the back.
- 6
Intersect
PropertiesPathfinderIntersect
Keeps only the area where all selected objects overlap. If they share no common area, nothing changes. Intersect two offset circles to get a leaf shape. Shortcut: Control+Command+I, or Ctrl+Alt+I on Windows.
- 7
Exclude
PropertiesPathfinderExclude
With two objects, turns the overlap into a hole and keeps the rest as one shape. With more objects, areas covered by an odd number of objects stay filled and areas covered by an even number become empty. Holes are real holes; whatever is behind shows through. Shortcut: Control+Command+X, or Ctrl+Alt+X on Windows.
- 8
Edit the result
PropertiesPath
The result comes in selected and shows as a Path in the Properties panel. Change its fill, stroke and image fill there; use Edit path to move points and Scissors to cut the path.
If the result has several parts, right-click and choose Release compound path to split them into separate paths. In a result with a hole, the hole becomes a separate filled path too.
- 9
Fill the new shape with an image
PropertiesImage fill
If the topmost object had an image fill, the result keeps that image in place. To add a new image, use the Image fill section, or select the result together with an image, right-click and choose Mask image.
- 10
Convert a single shape to a path
PropertiesPathfinderConvert shape to path
Pathfinder converts ready-made shapes for you, so there is nothing to prepare. When you only want to edit the points of one ready-made shape, select it and choose Convert shape to path at the end of the Pathfinder list. Colour and stroke are kept, and with several shapes selected all of them are converted.
Options
Commands in the Pathfinder list and the context menu.
| Option | Where | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Unite | Editor | Merges the selected objects into one outline. Control+Command+U, or Ctrl+Alt+U on Windows. |
| Minus front | Editor | Cuts the objects in front out of the backmost one. Control+Command+S, or Ctrl+Alt+S on Windows. |
| Intersect | Editor | Keeps only the area all of them share. Control+Command+I, or Ctrl+Alt+I on Windows. |
| Exclude | Editor | Turns shared areas into holes. Control+Command+X, or Ctrl+Alt+X on Windows. |
| Convert shape to path | Properties | Opens a ready-made shape as an editable pen path. |
Result
In place of the selected objects there is one pen path with the look of the topmost object, and holes are real holes. You can reshape it later with Edit path and Scissors or use it as an image mask. If you do not like it, Cmd/Ctrl+Z brings the source objects back in one step.