Click the Artboard tool Shift + O.
in the tool panel, or press- Illustrator User Guide
- Get to know Illustrator
- Introduction to Illustrator
- Workspace
- Workspace basics
- Create documents
- Learn faster with the Illustrator Discover panel
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- Introduction to artboards
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Learn how to create and work with artboards.
Artboards let you streamline the design process and work on designs on an infinite canvas. In Illustrator, an artboard is like a sheet of white paper that forms the base for your artistic work. You can use provided presets for popular devices or create custom-sized artboards to design your artwork. You can also export or print them.
When you create a document or open a new file in Illustrator, you can choose your artboard's preset and dimensions. If you have more than one design, you can add or create multiple artboards. You can also resize, rename, replicate, and remove artboards according to your requirements.
Keep your Artboards, Properties, or Control panel handy to start with the artboard. Choose the below options to activate the panels after you create or open a document:
Windows > Artboards
Windows > Properties
Windows > Controls
Let's say, you want to develop your design, export, or print them on multiple pages. Instead of creating multiple documents, you can create multiple artboards in the same document.
You can create an artboard using the Artboard tool or add new artboards to design your artwork.
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-
To apply preset or custom dimensions, use the artboard options or press Esc to exit the artboard-editing mode.
Use the artboard options
To use Artboard options, do the following:
-
Click the Artboard tool and double-click your artboard.
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In the Artboard Options dialog, specify the Name of your artboard and do any of the following:
- Select an option from the Preset drop-down list.
- Enter values in the W and H fields to modify the width and height of the artboard.
-
Select Landscape or Portrait to set the Orientation of your artboard.
If you want to modify the display settings of the artboard, see the additional artboard options.
Add new artboards
Follow these steps to add new artboards to your document:
-
Click the Artboard tool
and do one of the following:
- In the Artboards panel, click or choose More options > New Artboard.
- In the Properties or Control panel, click to add a new artboard.
A. New Artboard B. More options
-
Press Esc to exit the artboard-editing mode.
Selecting multiple artboards can save your time while duplicating, copying, moving, or deleting them.
Follow these steps to select multiple artboards:
-
Click the Artboard tool
and do any of the following:- To select an artboard, click the artboard.
- To select multiple artboards, Shift-click the artboards.
- To select all the artboards, press Ctrl + A (Windows) or Cmd+ A (macOS).
While working with designs on multiple artboards, you'd want to resize, rename, duplicate, delete, or manage artboards to provide a convenient layout to your artwork. An artboard's name appears in its upper-left corner.
When you want to resize, rename, or duplicate artboards, ensure that the Artboard tool is selected.
Duplicate artboards
Select your artboard. In the Artboards panel, click More options > Duplicate Artboards. Press Esc to exit the artboard-editing mode.
When designing for multiple screen sizes like desktop, tablet, and mobile, scale the artboard and artwork together to maintain layout integrity and proportions and ensure a consistent experience across devices.
-
Select the object you wish to scale and then select the Artboard tool
. -
In the Properties panel, select Scale artwork with Artboard.
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Drag the bounding box to resize your artwork and artboard proportionally.
A reference point allows you to hinge a corner or center of an artboard when you resize it.
To set a reference point, do the following:
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In the Artboards options, click one of the nine reference points in the reference point grid.
-
Specify width and height values.
Artboards are the base of your designs. You can remove artboards that are inessential or do not contribute to your artwork. However, your document needs at least one artboard in it. If you try to delete all the artboards, the artboard that's numbered 1 will remain.
Follow the steps below to delete your artboards:
-
Click the Artboard tool
. -
Select one or multiple artboards that you want to delete and click the Artboards, Properties, or Control panel. icon in the
A. Delete Artboard B. More options
-
To delete all empty artboards at once:
- Click More options in the Artboards panel.
- Select Delete Empty Artboards.
- You can open the Artboard options dialog from the Artboard, Properties, or Control panel to set artboard presets, artboard orientation, modify dimensions, and adjust the position of your artboard.
- You can resize, set reference points, or rename your artboard using the Artboards, Properties, Control panel, or Artboard options dialog.
- To navigate between artboards, you can press Alt (Windows) or Option (macOS) and use arrow keys. For more such shortcuts, see keyboard shortcuts.
Learn more
Watch these 4-minute videos to learn how to create and edit artboards in Illustrator. To learn more, see Work with artboards.
Create artboards
Edit artboards
More like this
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