Illustrator CS3  |  Go to CS4 Help

Use guides

Guides help you align text and graphic objects. You can create ruler guides (straight vertical or horizontal lines) and guide objects (vector objects that you convert to guides). Like the grid, guides do not print.

You can choose between two guide styles—dots and lines—and you can change the color of guides by using either predefined guide colors or colors you select using a color picker. By default, guides are unlocked so that you can move, modify, delete, or revert them, but you can choose to lock them into place.

  • To show or hide guides, choose View > Guides > Show Guides or View > Guides > Hide Guides.
  • To change guide settings, choose Edit > Preferences > Guides & Grid (Windows) or Illustrator > Preferences > Guides & Grid (Mac OS).
  • To lock guides, select View > Guides > Lock Guides.

Create guides

  1. If the rulers aren’t showing, choose View > Show Rulers.
  2. Position the pointer on the left ruler for a vertical guide or on the top ruler for a horizontal guide.
  3. Drag the guide into position.

    You can also convert vector objects to guides by selecting them and choosing View > Guides > Make Guides.

    To make working with multiple guides easier, move them into a separate layer.

Move, delete, or release guides

  1. If guides are locked, select View > Guides > Lock Guides.
  2. Do any of the following:

    • Move the guide by dragging or copying.

    • Delete the guide by pressing Backspace (Windows) or Delete (Mac OS), or by choosing Edit > Cut or Edit > Clear.

    • Delete all guides at once by choosing View > Guides > Clear Guides.

    • Release the guide, turning it back into a regular graphic object, by selecting the guide and choosing View > Guides > Release Guides.

Snap objects to anchor points and guides

  1. Choose View > Snap To Point.
  2. Select the object you want to move, and position the pointer on the exact point you want to align with anchor points and guides.
    Important: When snapping to a point, the snapping alignment depends on the position of the pointer, not the edges of the dragged object.
  3. Drag the object to the desired location.

    When the pointer comes within 2 pixels of an anchor point or guide, it snaps to the point. The pointer changes from a filled arrowhead to a hollow arrowhead when a snap occurs.


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