Rulers and guides help with the precise positioning and alignment of objects. Using guides makes it a lot easier to see if diverse objects are level, especially text objects. Another common use for guides is to use them to show print-safe areas in your design so you don’t put text or other elements too close to the edge where they may be accidentally cropped off. We also use guides to set up templates for printing multiple elements, such as business cards or postcards that print multiple to a page. We can use guides (and math) to create grid systems to help us create balanced layouts.
Illustrator’s smart guides give us continuing real-time info about positioning, intersection with other objects, and alignment – they are like having a design superpower.
In this tutorial, you will learn to display the ruler and set units of measurement, create precise guides in a variety of ways, create diagonal and shape-based guides, how to lock and unlock guides, move guides and how to hide and show them so you can periodically evaluate how your design looks without distracting lines. In addition, you will learn how to get the most out of Illustrator’s Smart Guides.
Rulers
Most methods of creating guides involve the ruler so we need to start with enabling that feature.
Show Rulers
- Use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + R (Windows) | Cmd + R (Mac) or
- From the menu choose View> Rulers > Show Rulers
Hide Rulers
- Use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + R (Windows) | Cmd + R (Mac) or
- From the menu choose View> Rulers > Hide Rulers
Ruler Increments
What increments you set will have to do with what type of project you are doing. If you are going to be printing your project you will probably want to use Inches, Centimeters or Millimeters, if you are designing a large format image then you may want to use Feet, Feet Inches or even Yards or Meters. If you are working for the web then Pixels will be your most likely choice. Other choices are Points and Picas.
Changing the ruler increments will also change how the units of measurement in the properties panel display but will not change the preferences at the document level.
How to Set Ruler Increments in Illustrator
Right-click on the ruler and from the fly-out menu choose the unit of measurement you want.
Global vs Artboard Rulers
What is the difference between the two ruler options? The difference occurs when you have a file with more than one artboard. In the Global Ruler option the point of origin for the rulers is defined per document and does not change when you start working on a different artboard. With Artboard rulers the point of origin changes to the top left of each artboard. In current versions of Illustrator, Artboard Rulers are set by default.
Switch between Artboard and Global Rulers
If you wanted to switch (or more likely just check what your rulers are set to)
- From the menu choose View > Rulers > Change to Artboard Rulers | Change to Global Rulers or use the keyboard shortcut Alt + Ctrl + R (Windows) | or Opt + Cmd + R (Mac)
Guides Overview
I remember when I was first learning illustrator and I thought that guides were like ghost objects – that appeared, but weren’t really there. In fact, guides are regular vector objects with a few distinct idiosyncrasies. Just like regular paths they can be selected (when unlocked), moved, deleted, or hidden and they exist in the layers panel. Every time you create a guide you will get a new sublayer just as you do when you make any other object or path. Guides will always display above non-guide objects so they will be clearly visible even if they are at the bottom of the stacking order.
Guides will not show in your printed or exported artwork.
Tip: If you are creating guides create them on a single layer and then create your artwork on another layer.
Make Guides in Illustrator (2 methods)
Drag Out Guides
This is the most basic method for creating guides
- With any tool selected click on the ruler and drag. Create a vertical guide by clicking on the left ruler and dragging it to the right. Create a horizontal guide by clicking on the top ruler and dragging down.
- Release the mouse button when the guide is in the right position
Double-Click Method
- With any tool, position your cursor in the Ruler you want the guide to start and double-click.
Shape-Based Guides
You are not limited to simply horizontal or vertical lines for guides any vector shape can become a guide.
Make a Shape into a Guide
- Creating a vector shape using almost any of Illustrator’s shape or path tools.
- From the menu choose Guide > Make Guides or the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + 5 (Windows) | Cmd + 5 (Mac)
Make an 45 Degree Diagonal Guide
- Select the line tool, and hold the shift key while drawing on a slight upward angle to constrain the angle to 45 degrees
- From the menu choose Guide > Make Guides or the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + 5 (Windows) | Cmd + 5 (Mac)
Editing Guides
Unlock Guides
Guides by default are locked to start with so once you create one you can’t accidentally select it. But… if your design changes or if you dropped the guide in the wrong and want to move it you will need to start by unlocking the guide.
- From the menu choose View > Guides > Unlock Guides or use the keyboard shortcut Alt + Ctrl + ; (Windows) | Opt + Cmd + ; (Mac)
Once your guides are unlocked you can select them like any other object and will change color when selected. When unlocked, guides are still guides they will still display in the layer highlight color and can not have a fill applied to them.
Lock Guides
- From the menu choose View > Guides > Lock Guides or use the keyboard shortcut Alt + Ctrl + ; (Windows) | Opt + Cmd + ; (Mac)
How to Move a Guide
- Unlock guides
- Select the guide using the Selection tool by clicking the guide path or by dragging a marquee that includes the guide path.
- Drag the guide to a new position or use the arrow keys to nudge it to a new position.
- Relock guides
Move and Copy Guides
- Unlock guides
- Select the guide using the Selection tool by clicking the guide path or by dragging a marquee that includes the guide path.
- Drag the guide to a new position while holding down the Alt Key (Windows) | Opt key (Mac). Make sure that you release the mouse button BEFORE releasing the keyboard modifier (Alt / Opt).
- Relock guides
Delete Selected Guides
- Unlock guides
- Select the guide using the Selection tool by clicking the guide path or by dragging a marquee that includes the guide path. The guide will change color when selected.
- Click the Delete button on your keyboard
- Relock guides
Delete All Guides (Clear Guides)
This option will nuke them all
- From the menu choose View > Guides > Clear Guides
Release Guides
Releasing a guide turns the guide back into a regular editable shape.
- Unlock guides
- Select the guide you wish to make a regular object again
- From the menu choose Guide > Release Guides or the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + 5 (Windows) | Cmd + 5 (Mac)
Edit Guide Preferences
By default, Illustrator shows guides in a light cyan color. If you were working on a design with a lot of light blues and greens those guides might not be easy to see.
How to Change Guide Color
- From the menu choose Edit > Preferences > Guides & Grid
- From the Guides section, choose a color from the drop-down menu.
Similarly, if you were creating a design with a lot of fine lines then a dotted line guide might stand out more.
- From the menu choose Edit > Preferences > Guides & Grid
- From the Guides section choose dots from the Style rom the drop down menu.
Show and Hide Guides
Guides are great but periodically you need to look at your overall artwork and see it without distractions or you may need to show it to a client or employer and then you will want to hide the guides temporarily.
Hide Guides
- From the menu choose View > Hide Guides or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+: (Windows) | Cmd + ; (Mac)
Show Guides
- From the menu choose View > Show Guides or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+: (Windows) | Cmd + ; (Mac)
Moving and Duplicating Guides Precisely With Object > Transform
There are times you want to place evenly spaced guides in your artwork. Yes, I know Illustrator also has a grid system but… for something simple like having guides evenly spaced I sometimes find it simpler to place, then move via transform and duplicate the transformation. I will walk you through a simple example below but you can do quite complex things where you layout columns with gutters etc.
Create a Simple Grid by Duplicating and Moving Guides
- Create a new document: File > New ( I am going to use 1080 px X 1080 px – a format I use when creating Instagram graphics).
- Plan your layout: -I want 12 columns so this works out to 90 pixels each
- Bring up your rulers: View > Rulers or use the shortcut Ctrl + R (windows) | Cmd + R (mac)
- Precisely place your first guideline: Zoom in until you can see the tick mark you want to place – I had to click with the zoom tool several times before the 90 tick mark displayed. Shift Double-click on the 90 pixel tick on the top ruler (holding the shift key as you place double-click snaps the guide to the nearest tick point).
- Unlock guides: View > Guides > Unlock Guides
- Select your guide: with the Selection Tool click the guide or drag a marquee around it
- Move and Copy: From the menu choose Object > Transform > Move and choose 90px horizontal and 0 px vertical and click Copy.
- Duplicate the Transformation: Use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + D (windows) | Cmd + D (Mac) to duplicate the transformation 8 more times.
- Lock Guides: View > Guides >Lock Guides
Create a Print Safe border with Precisely Positioned Guides
When working for print there is typically a print-safe area that usually leaves a 1/8″ to 1/2″ margin around the page. You keep any important text and design elements inside this margin to prevent them being cropped after printing.
We are going to leverage the power of the transform options in the property inspector to make our print safe border.
In this example, I am going to show you how to create the print safe area on a single business card. You will typically design a single card and then the print shop will lay them out in multiples for printing.
- Create a new document File > New or Ctrl + N (Windows) | Cmd + N (Mac) Choose the print tab and set the unit of measurement to inches and width to 3.5 inches and 2 inches. You can optionally set a bleed ,I would typically use 0.125 in (1/8th inch) for a business card and click Create.
- Drag out 2 horizontal guides and 2 vertical guides (doesn’t matter where they sit at this point)
- Unlock guides
- Select the First Horizontal Guide and let illustrator do the math – we want our guide to be 1/8 inch border in form the left edge so enter 1/8 in the X: window. In the 2nd picture, you can see that illustrator translate 1/8 into .125 in and in the 3rd picture that the guide is now in the right spot.
- Select the 2nd horizontal guide and enter 3.5-.125 in the X field
- Select the first of the vertical guides and enter 1/8 in the Y field.
- Select the 2nd Vertical Guide and enter 2-.125 in the Y Field – our final guide is in place and we can see the perimeter we need to keep all our text inside.
Smart Guides
Smart Guides are a special type of guide that provides a great deal of information about objects and positioning and alignment.
- Help You Draw: Smart guides provide helpful information when you are drawing out shapes such as height and width or the length and degree of angle of a line.
- Help You Position Objects: Smart guides will show a highlighted line to let you know you are level with another the edge or center point of another object making it easy to align.
- Provide information: Smart guides will highlight when you are over paths, anchors, and the centerpoint of objects.
In the current and several previous versions of Illustrator, Smart Guides are turned on by default. But just in case they get turned off by accident you should know how to enable them. They let you snap to objects making your art more precise.
From the Menu choose View > Smart Guides (if there is already a check box next to the option they are already on) or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + U (Windows) | Cmd + U (Mac).
Illustrator Rulers & Guide FAQ
How do I set Exact Guides in Illustrator?
The best way to set exact guides is to click in the ruler and drag out a guide, unlock guides, select the guide and then use then position itby entering the appropriate value in the X or Y Fields in the transform panel. This will allow you to position the guide to the exact pixel!
For more details steps see below.
Steps:
- Click in the Ruler and drag to pull out a guide (drop it anywhere by releasing the mouse button).
- Unlock guides View > Guides > Unlock or so that you can select the guide
- Select the guide by clicking it with the Selection Tool (Black Arrow)
- Enter the pixel value in the transform panel, (for example, if you want the guide to be exactly 90 pixels from the left edge of the artboard enter 90 pixels in the X field.
What is the Make Guides Illustrator Short Cut?
You can make any vector shape a guide by selecting the shape and then using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + 5 (Windows) or Cmd + 5 (Mac)
What is the difference between Unlocking a Guide and Releasing a Guide?
Unlocking a guide makes it selectable but it is still a guide , for example, you can’t give a fill or stroke. Releasing a guide returns it to being a regular vector shape that can have a fill and stroke.
Before You Go…
Understanding rulers and guides will help you place, align and balance your design. But… if you don’t have a strong understanding of all the different ways Illustrator let’s you select objects you are probably working harder than you need to. Learn how advanced selections can speed up your work flow and give you more control over your selections – How to Select Anything in Illustrator.