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You can have 1 to 1,000 artboards per document. I’ve never used 1,000 artboards in a project, but it’s nice to know they’re there if I need them. As I explain in the beginning of this chapter, you can set the number of artboards for a document when you first create it, but you can also add and remove artboards after you begin work on a document.

The Artboard tool is part of the Basic toolset (I explain how to manage tools in Chapter 1). You create artboards in a document by selecting the Artboard tool and drawing interactively on the canvas, as shown in Figure 2-3.

FIGURE 2-3: Drawing an artboard.

Or you can generate an artboard by clicking the New Artboard icon in the Artboard pane or the Control (or Properties) panel. The Artboard Options dialog shown in Figure 2-4 opens.

FIGURE 2-4: Generating an artboard with the Artboard Options dialog.

Generating an artboard allows you to name the artboard as you create it, along with defining the dimensions and location digitally.

You can manage artboards in many ways. The following shows you how to define and take advantage of the artboard options I think you’ll find helpful in organizing and sharing projects.

To resize or move an artboard interactively, follow these steps:

1 With the Artboard tool, click once inside the artboard.

2 Drag to move the artboard, as shown in Figure 2-5.

3 Click and drag on a side or corner (square-shaped) bounding box to resize the artboard, as shown in Figure 2-6.

FIGURE 2-5: Moving an artboard.

FIGURE 2-6: Resizing an artboard.

You can change any artboard property by using the Control or Properties panel:

 The Presets drop-down provides quick access to commonly used sizes. My favorite feature here is the Fit to Artwork Bounds option, which resizes the selected artboard to shrink in size to where it just fits around all the artwork within it. By sizing an artboard to an exact fit around its content, you avoid exporting or printing blank space in your graphic.

 The Name box is the easiest way to change the selected artboard name.

 The Move/Copy Artwork with Artboard option is on by default but can be turned off if you want to move an artboard while leaving the content where it is.

 The Artboard Options box opens a dialog with options that apply to all selected artboards in a document. I find the Show Center Mark useful when centering content in an artboard. You can use this dialog also to rename multiple selected artboards with sequential numbering. For example, if I rename a bunch of selected artboards DK, I end up with DK-1, DK-2, DK-3, and so on.

 The X value in the Control panel defines the vertical location; the Y value defines the horizontal location.

 The Width and Height values resize the artboard. Use the lock icon to lock the height-to-width aspect ratio while you resize.

 The Rearrange All icon opens up a panel with different options for arranging your artboards in an orderly way on the canvas.

A couple of other artboard essential tips:

 To hide all objects that are not within an artboard, choose View ⇒ Trim.

 To delete an artboard, select it with the Artboard tool and click Delete.