How to Outline Text in Photoshop

How to Outline Text in Photoshop

This tutorial shows how to turn ordinary text into outlined text using a Stroke layer style, and then how to hide the letters’ interior entirely so only the outline remains, letting a background photo show through. A PSD of the sample “Red Lion” pub logo design is available as a free download to follow along.

What Outlined Text Can Do

Outlined text is a versatile design effect on its own, but hiding the interior fill so only the outline remains opens up even more possibilities, letting a photo or background show through the letterforms themselves rather than sitting behind a solid block of text.

The sample PSD is a made-up pub logo, The Red Lion, over a storefront photo. Turn its layers off and back on one by one to see how it goes together: a Color Fill layer in a rectangle shape with its opacity lowered, the type layers, two rectangles made with the Rectangle Tool, and a lion icon that was black until a Color Overlay layer style made it red. “The” and “Red Lion” are separate type layers with different font weights, so one can be outlined without the other. Aaron found the lion on The Noun Project (thenounproject.com), a website he recommends for icons.

Adding a Stroke to Text with Layer Styles

Double-click directly on a text layer’s name bar in the Layers panel to open its Layer Style dialog (or go to the FX icon at the bottom of the Layers panel, then Blending Options). Check the Stroke option, then set an initial Size large enough to see clearly, raise the Opacity, and click the color swatch to choose a color that stands out against the text, such as red.

Choosing Stroke Position

The Stroke settings include a Position option: Inside keeps the stroke entirely within the letterforms, Outside places it entirely outside their edges, and Center straddles the edge itself. Which option looks best depends on the specific letters and what the stroke is meant to accomplish, though Outside often reads clearest for this kind of bold outlined-text effect.

Trying Blend Modes and Gradients

The stroke’s Blend Mode can also be changed from Normal to something like Darken, which blends the stroke color with whatever’s beneath it, or Overlay, which blends it with the image so you can barely see it. The video sticks with Normal. Instead of a flat color, clicking into the Gradient option opens the Gradient Editor, where a linear or radial gradient, with adjustable scale, can be used for the stroke instead of one plain color.

Revisiting and Adjusting the Stroke Anytime

Once a Stroke effect has been applied, it appears listed under that layer in the Layers panel; double-clicking directly on the word “Stroke” there reopens the same Layer Style dialog at any time, so the size, color, or any other setting can be revisited and adjusted without starting over.

Fixing Letter Spacing for a Thicker Stroke

A thicker stroke can cause adjacent letters to visually touch or overlap, since the added width extends outward from each character equally. To fix this, select the text layer, go to Window, then Character, and increase the tracking value (letter spacing) in the Character panel, for example from 25 up to 100, to add breathing room between characters without changing their actual size. Going back to 0 is the standard spacing. In the video, after trying 100, Aaron sets the tracking back to 25 and lowers the stroke Size instead, for a slightly smaller outline.

Hiding the Letter Fill to Show Only the Outline

To hide just the letters while keeping their outline fully visible, find the Fill value near the top of the Layers panel, under Opacity, for that text layer and lower it toward zero. As the Fill value drops, the solid letter shapes fade away while the Stroke effect, since it’s a separate layer style rather than part of the fill, stays completely visible.

Fill vs. Opacity: What’s the Difference

Lowering a layer’s regular Opacity fades everything on that layer at once, including any applied layer styles like the stroke, whereas lowering Fill specifically only fades the layer’s own original content (the letter shapes themselves) while leaving layer styles like Stroke fully intact. Switching the stroke’s color to white at this stage, once the letters are hidden, is what the video does next: double-click Stroke again and pick white.

Applying the Same Technique to Any Shape

This entire technique isn’t limited to text: any shape or object layer, such as an icon or logo mark, can be outlined and have its fill hidden the exact same way, by adding a Stroke layer style through FX, then Blending Options, choosing its position (Inside, Outside, or Center), and lowering that layer’s Fill value to reveal just the outline.

Combining Techniques for a Custom Look

Duplicating an outlined-and-hollowed text layer and placing the copy over a cropped photo shows how flexible this effect can be as a design overlay: increasing the stroke width slightly can help keep the outlined text readable against a busier background image, and the Fill value doesn’t have to sit at exactly zero either. Anything from 0 to 100 works, so a little Fill left in lets a little of the white letter color show inside the outline.

Going Deeper with Layer Styles

Stroke is just one of several layer style effects available in the same Blending Options dialog, alongside options like Color Overlay, Drop Shadow, and Bevel & Emboss, all of which stack together non-destructively on any layer. For the fuller picture of what is possible, see How to Master Layer Styles in Photoshop.

Final Thoughts

Outlining text in Photoshop comes down to one layer style, Stroke, and one simple trick, lowering Fill instead of Opacity to hide the interior while keeping the outline intact. Since the same steps work identically on shapes and icons, not just text, this is a genuinely versatile design technique worth having on hand for logos, overlays, and any design that needs a bold outlined look.

Quick Reference: Keys, Menus and Settings

• Open Layer StyleDouble-click the type layer’s gray bar, or fx > Blending Options
• Add the outlineStroke: Size, Opacity, Color; Position Outside for this text
• Edit it laterDouble-click Stroke under the layer’s effects
• Letters touchingWindow > Character, tracking 25 to 100, or lower the stroke Size
• Outline onlyFill to 0% in the Layers panel, under Opacity; leave Opacity at 100%
• Outline a shapefx > Blending Options > Stroke, then lower Fill

No AI, no generative credits.