How to Outline a Group of Shapes (Not the individual shapes in the group)

[littlebee]

I am using several shapes to form a cartoon character.  For the arm for example, I used 3 shapes that I grouped together.  I want to outline the finished arm, but it keeps outlining all of the individual shapes within the group.  Any guidance would be appreciated.  

[MEB]

Hi littlebee,

Welcome to Affinity Forums :)

Grouping a bunch of objects just keeps them together, doesn't make them act like a single object. So to outline the whole arm you have to add the three shapes so they become just one. To do this select the three shapes then go to menu Layer ▸ Geometry ▸ Add or click the respective icon in the main toolbar in the Operations section. If you want to keep the original shapes do delimit the parts of the arm, duplicate the three shapes before performing the Add operation and place the "combined" shape you want to use as outline over the three independent shapes in the Layers panel.