About the artboard


    In Adobe Illustrator, the artboard represents the entire region that can contain printable artwork. However, the artboard's dimensions do not necessarily match the current paper size. For example, your artboard may be 10 x 20 inches while your print settings specify 8 and one-half x 11 inch paper. For more information on choosing a printer and paper size, see Using the Print dialog box and Specifying the media size and orientation.

    Tip iconWhen the artboard is larger than the paper size, you can choose to divide the artboard into multiple page tiles. (See Dividing the artboard into multiple page tiles.)

    You can view the page boundaries in relation to the artboard by showing page tiling. When page tiling is on, the printable and nonprintable areas are represented by a series of solid and dotted lines between the outermost edge of the window and the printable area of the page.

To show or hide page tiling boundaries:

    Choose View > Show Page Tiling or View > Hide Page Tiling.

    Illustration of Illustrator's work area with these callouts: A. Imageable area B. Nonimageable area C. Edge of the page D. Artboard E. Scratch area
    Illustrator work area A. Imageable area B. Nonimageable area C. Edge of the page D. Artboard E. Scratch area

    Imageable area

    The imageable area is bounded by the innermost dotted lines and represents the portion of the page on which the selected printer can print. Many printers cannot print to the edge of the paper.

    Nonimageable area

    The nonimageable area is between the two sets of dotted lines representing any nonprintable margin of the page.

    Edge of the page

    The page edge is indicated by the outermost set of dotted lines.

    Artboard

    The artboard is bounded by solid lines and represents the maximum printable area. You can hide the artboard boundaries if desired. (See Showing and hiding the artboard boundaries.)

    Scratch area

    The scratch area is the area outside the artboard that extends to the edge of the 227-inch square window. The scratch area represents a space on which you can create, edit, and store elements of artwork before moving them onto the artboard. Objects placed onto the scratch area are visible on-screen, but they do not print.