Adding, deleting, and converting anchor points
The Add Anchor Point and Delete Anchor Point tools let you add and delete anchor points on a shape. The convert direction point tool lets you convert a smooth curve to a sharp curve or to a straight segment, and vice versa. If you have selected Auto Add/Delete in the options bar for the Pen tool or Freeform Pen tool, when you click a line segment, a point is added, and when you click an existing point, it is deleted.
To add an anchor point:
- Select the Add Anchor Point tool
, and position the pointer on the path where you want the anchor point added (a plus sign appears next to the pointer). - Do one of the following:
- To add an anchor point without changing the shape of the segment, click the path.
- To add an anchor point and change the shape of the segment, drag to define direction lines for the anchor point.
To delete an anchor point:
- Select the Delete Anchor Point tool
, and position the pointer on the anchor point you want deleted (a minus sign appears next to the pointer). - Delete the anchor point:
- Click the anchor point to delete it and to reshape the path to fit the remaining anchor points.
- Drag the anchor point to delete it and to change the shape of the segment.
To convert between a smooth point and a corner point:
- Select the Convert Point tool
, and position the pointer over the anchor point you want changed. - Convert the point:
- To convert a smooth point to a corner point without direction lines, click the smooth anchor point.
- To convert a smooth point to a corner point with direction lines, make sure the direction lines are visible. Then drag a direction point to break the pair of direction lines.
- To convert a corner point to a smooth point, drag away from the corner point to make direction lines appear.
To activate the Convert Point tool while the Direct Selection tool is selected, position the pointer over an anchor point, and press Ctrl+Alt (Windows) or Command+Option (Mac OS).
Drag direction point to break direction lines.
Click to create a corner point. Drag to create a smooth point.