Boolean operations

Boolean operations build new paths out of the vector shapes, arrows, and text you select:

• Shapes: Union, Subtract, Intersect, Exclude, and Flatten work on geometry shapes, paths, freehand shapes, polylines, arrows, text, and groups made only of those. Split works on paths and arrows.
• Base: the first shape selected in a multiple selection. The combined result takes its place and its style.
• Buttons: the six operations share one multi-button in the Actions panel.
• Originals: the result replaces them.

Union, subtract, intersect, and exclude

These four combine the areas the selected shapes cover.

• Operation:
  1. Select the shapes, the base first.
  2. Click one of these buttons:
     • Union: the combined area of all the shapes.
     • Subtract: the base with the later shapes cut out of it.
     • Intersect: only the area all the shapes share.
     • Exclude: the areas covered by an odd number of shapes, so where two shapes overlap there is a hole.
• Needs: two or more shapes, each meeting these conditions:
  • Visible: it has a fill or a solid, freehand, or dashed stroke.
  • Not a mask: no other shape uses it as a mask.
  • Groups: a group counts as one shape and qualifies when every shape in it does.
• Result: new paths replace the shapes and are selected. They sit where the base was in the stacking order.
  • A filled shape counts with its fill, without its stroke. A shape with only a stroke counts with the area its stroke paints.
  • Parts of the result that don't touch each other become separate paths.
  • A hole stays part of the path around it. A part that sits inside a hole becomes a separate path.
  • When nothing is left, for example when subtracting a shape that covers the base, a notice says so and the shapes stay as they were.

Flatten

Turns the selected shapes into a single path that keeps every outline and takes the base's style, so they can be edited, filled, and masked as one shape.

• Operation: click Flatten.
• Needs: one of these selections, with every shape meeting the conditions of Union and the others:
  • Two or more shapes.
  • One group with two or more shapes.
  • One shape with only a stroke.
  • One arrow.
• Result: one path made of all the outlines.
  • Outlines can overlap, and they all share the base's style and opacity, so parts with other colors take the base color.
  • A stroke-only shape becomes the filled outline of its stroke.

Flatten vs. Convert to Image

Both turn several shapes into fewer, and only Flatten keeps them editable.

• Flatten gives one path. Its points can still be edited, its stroke and fill restyled, and it can go through further boolean operations or serve as a mask.
• Convert to Image gives one image per cluster of nearby shapes, an SVG image when the cluster holds only vector shapes. The points and styles of the originals can no longer be edited, so use it when the editing is done. See Convert to Image.

Split

Gives each separate part of a path or arrow its own path.

• Operation: select one or more paths or arrows and click Split.
• Needs: a visible path or arrow with two or more separate parts, not used as a mask.
• Result: one path per part, selected with the rest of the selection. Other selected shapes stay as they are.
  • A hole stays with the part around it.
  • A path's parts keep its style and settings, open lines included. An arrow's parts follow Using arrows.
  • Parts with translucent fills may look darker where they overlap, since they are now drawn separately.
• Tip: use Split to edit an arrow's parts one by one.

Using arrows

All six operations accept arrows directly, with their current route, markers, offset lines, and label.

• The result is made of paths. It stops following connected shapes, and a measured label becomes fixed outlines at its current value.
• Arrow results have a solid fill and no stroke, in one color taken from the arrow's visible parts, the stroke color when there is one.
• A single arrow can be flattened.

Style of the result

Union, Subtract, Intersect, Exclude, and Flatten build the result from the base:

• Stroke and fill: taken from the base. When the base is a group, the shape at the back of the group gives the style.
• Filled base: the result keeps its fill, and a freehand stroke becomes a solid one.
• Stroke-only base: the result is filled in the stroke's color and opacity, with no stroke.
• Text: contributes its letters, filled text as filled letters and outlined text as the outline bands. The result takes the text fill or outline color.
• Open lines: lines with a fill are closed.
• Filters and masks: the base's carry over as settings. Parts hidden by a mask still count in the operation.
• Opacity: the combined opacity of the base and its groups.
• Place: the base's group or frame, with the rotation and scale built into the points.
• Animations: the base's move to the result, and the other shapes' are removed.

Limits

• Images and other non-vector shapes cannot take part. Text on a path cannot either; in a mixed selection, Split still works on the paths and arrows.
• A dashed stroke becomes one outline per dash. Past a limit on the number of dashes, the operation stops without changing the shapes.
• A part of the result too thin to keep stops the operation with a notice. A hole that thin disappears instead.