How to Make a Dotted Line in Illustrator

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Make a Dotted Line in Illustrator
Visual perforation.
Ash Ash (295)
Total time: 5 minutes 
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What You'll Need
1

Adobe Illustrator makes it easy to create custom dotted lines. Any version of Adobe Illustrator will work for this guide, but I'll be using Illustrator 2020 in the examples.

Interests

Here's everything you'll need to complete this guide:

Adobe Illustrator×1
Table of Contents
1

Start a new project

Illustrator New Project

Start a new project in Illustrator or open the project in which you want to create a dotted line.

Open a new project by clicking Create new... on the left of the main menu or drag and drop an image onto the workspace. You can adjust the artboard or leave it as is.

2

Draw a line

Illustrator Pen Tool Line

Draw a line using one of the Pen tools to draw the path of your dotted line.

3

Open the stroke window

Illustrator Stroke Window

We'll use the stroke window to apply the dotted line effect. You can access it under the Window tab by selecting Stroke.

4

Adjust the stroke effect settings

Illustrator Stroke Settings

The stroke window lets you adjust the parameters of your line. You can choose how thick the line is, what kind of shape appears around tight bends, and what we came for—a dashed line effect.

To create a dotted line effect, check the Dashed Line line box in the Stroke Window.

5

Apply the dotted line effect

Illustrator Dotted Line

Once you've adjusted your dotted line settings, click away from the line with the Selection Tool to leave the stroke in place.

Congratulations! You've created a dotted line in Illustrator. You may also be interested in our guide on how to disable the start screen in Adobe Illustrator.