Welding text in Adobe Illustrator CS2

[jjmill1980]

I have a question for Illustrator users.
My wife is the sign guru and I am the computer guru. Currently she uses AI and SignCut X2. She does a lot of signs with "scripty" fonts where lines cross over each other. I need to figure out how she can weld these lines so that where they intersect the cutter won't cut these intersecting lines and only cuts the outer shape.

Sorry if this is confusing.

I ran across something about the pathfinder effect intersect. But, I have not been able to figure out how to do this with text.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Rick]

Covert text to outlines, then go to "PATHFINDER" and hit the "ADD TO SHAPE AREA" button, then hit "EXPAND" and viola!

 

[jjmill1980]

Rick,

Thank you, thank you!

I had been trying to figure that out for some time now. That worked perfectly!!!