The market today is flooded with a wide range of electronic devices of various makes. You can see innumerable variations in display sizes, resolutions, and processor capabilities across devices. Marketers need to cater to as many users as possible and hence responsive design becomes crucial. For an artist, this translates into producing many similar designs to suit the device/platform’s requirements. Adobe Illustrator’s artboard presents itself as an effective tool to store and modify similar designs. So here is everything you need to know about how to customize and change Artboard size in Illustrator.
How to add an artboard
You can also add an artboard when starting to work on a new document/project. Steps: File → New → Select on out of the several pre-defined artboard dimensions/select custom artboard dimensions in the Preset Details section of the New Document window. You can also find various other settings in the “More Settings” options at the bottom left corner of the New Document window. You can also create new artboards using the Artboard tool in the toolbar.
How to change artboard size
Hit Shift + O on your keyboard and the artboard option will be selected in the toolbar. The Artboard tool looks like a rectangular piece of paper with an earmark at the top right corner.
Click in a blank space on the canvas, hold and drag.
Now, you can see a blank artboard on the canvas. Notice various reference points that appear as you move across different existing artboards. This helps when organizing the artboards.
To adjust the dimensions and location of the artboard, use the properties panel. Select the Artboard tool and hover over any artboard. You will notice three types of arrows:
- A four-headed arrow. Click and drag your mouse to reposition.
- An arrow with a small rectangle at the bottom. Click and drag to create a new artboard.
- The double-headed arrow. Visible when sliding across the edges. Click and drag to change the artboard size.
How to change artboard color
You can change the artboard color by going to the File menu and then selecting the “Document Setup” option. In the Document Setup window, go to the “Transparency and Overprint Options”. Set “Grid Colors” drop-down to Custom. Check the “Simulate Colored Paper” option check-box. Towards the right, you can see two rectangles placed one over the other. Click on the top box and select your desired color from the palette or the gradient. Click OK and the selected color will be applied to all your artboards.
However, if you want to change the background color of a specific artboard, there is another way. Draw a rectangle over the artboard and fill the shape with the desired color from the Properties panel. Then go to the Object menu and navigate to the Lock option and click on Selection. Now your artboard will have the selected color.
How to organize artboards
When you reposition your artboard using the artboard tool, the illustrations move with the artboard. Uncheck the “Move artwork with Artboard” in the Properties panel to move the artwork without moving the contents inside. You can duplicate any artboard by pressing Alt on your keyboard and dragging it across the selected artboard. Select any artboard(s) and then select Artboard Options from the property panel or double click on the artboard tool to open additional artboard settings. Here, you can make any changes to the artboard like renaming, changing dimensions, deleting, and many more.
Designers working on large projects may end up using hundreds of artboards. Fortunately, we can easily organize artboards in Illustrator. Go to the Windows menu and select the Artboards option.
How to delete an artboard
Deleting any artboard is also very simple. Steps: Select the Artboard tool → Select an artboard to delete → Hit delete from the keyboard. You can also delete the selected artboard from the Artboard Options settings. Note that if the “Move artwork with Artboard” option is checked, the artboard along with all the content on it will be deleted. Of course, you can undo the operation in case you delete them by mistake.
Snap artboard to artwork
When you save any artwork, you must have seen extra/white spaces. Sometimes it is useful to get rid of it. You can do this by simply selecting the artwork, selecting the artboard tool, and then double-clicking on the artwork. This will trim the artboard to the dimensions of the artwork.
Knowing how to change the artboard size in Illustrator is extremely helpful for every Illustrator user.
For more Illustrator tips, tricks, and scripts, check out our Blog.
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