Select the characters or text that you want to change.
Last updated on
Sep 11, 2025
Learn more on how to use ligatures and contextual alternates in Illustrator to enhance the flow and appearance of the text.
Ligatures and Contextual Alternates are special typographic features in OpenType fonts that improve the appearance and flow of the text.
Select Window > Type > Character to select an OpenType font.
Note
Only OpenType fonts support Standard Ligatures and Contextual Alternates.
Select Window > Type > OpenType.
In the OpenType panel, select More options and select any of the given options as required:
- Standard Ligatures: Allows common letter pair substitutions such as fi, fl, ff.
- Contextual Alternates: Adjusts characters based on their surrounding letters.
- Discretionary Ligatures: Allows optional, more stylized ligatures like ct, st, or Th, if available in the font.
Tip
If an option is greyed out, then it implies that the selected font does not support the feature.
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