Skip to main content
L
laurenb99771261
New Participant
November 16, 2016
Answered

How to add ruler guides?

  • November 16, 2016
  • 7 replies
  • 63604 views

I'm looking for somewhere in Experience Design where I can create and drag horizontal and vertical guides around the page. I use this alot in photoshop for designing interfaces. e.g. I want to design to a 1140px container with a three column grid inside with gutters, and horizontal guides to align my type. Is there some kind of layout/guide/grid tool that I am missing? Other than that 'grid' tool that draws repeated squares all over the artboard - this doesn't allow for guides and rulers like what I am looking for.

    Correct answer Peter_Flynn

    Adobe XD doesn't have a way to create real guides yet. You can add your vote for that feature here: Guides – Adobe XD Feedback

    In the meantime though, you can closely approximate guides this way: create regular Line objects and then lock them so you can't accidentally move or select them.  Other objects will snap to these lines just like guides.  The only trick is, if you ever need to export the whole artboard, you'll have to manually hide these lines so they're not included in the exported image (you can multi-select them in the Layers panel and then use Object > Hide to toggle all of them at once).

    Hope that helps!

    - Peter

    7 replies

    A
    asaavedra78
    New Participant
    September 25, 2020

    YAY!  I found out where the guides are..... just float your cursor on the edge of the artboard (left for vertical guides, top edge for horizontal) and you can pull in guidelines to your artboard... AWESOME!!!!!.   I still haven't found the rulers...

      HARSHIKA_VERMA
      Community Manager
      HARSHIKA_VERMACommunity Manager
      Community Manager
      September 28, 2020

      Great. You are able to use guides in XD. For rulers, we would suggest submitting your feedback here: https://adobexd.uservoice.com/forums/353007-adobe-xd-feature-requests/suggestions/14160699-rulers and upvote the request to add your voice.

       

      Hope it helps.

       

      Thanks,

      Harshika

      robertr91483208
      robertr91483208
      New Participant
      December 16, 2019

      Sketch user here! Trying to give XD a fair shot. Here are two major annoyances that I've discovered so far:

       

      • Give users a way to organize assets.
      • Allow guides to be pulled from any side of an artboard (or better yet, just ad rulers)

       

       

      <The Title was renamed by moderator>

        Peter Villevoye
        Peter Villevoye
        Community Expert
        December 16, 2019

        Did you take a look at the Assets panel (for styles, colors, themes, components) and/or the Adobe CC Libraries ?

        You can set up one or more artboards to serve as style guides.

         

        And did you notice the somewhat lighter area flashing when you move your cursor away from an artboard ? That's the ruler, the guide's source ! I know, it's bit of a hidden gem, until know it. But having rulers alongside every artboard would become a visual nuisance, I guess. How does Sketch handle this ?

          robertr91483208
          robertr91483208
          New Participant
          December 17, 2019
          1. I know about the guides. But as far as I can tell, they only work on the top / left sides of the artboards. Not particulary useful when the edges are off screen. Sketch has rulers that are very similar to illustrator, photoshop etc... Not a nuisance in the slightest.
          2. Asset organization is very limited in its current form, compared to Sketch. There's no grouping. For example, in Sketch, I can name something "button/primary" and have that automatcally placed in a group of buttons.
          N
          noelel56477951
          New Participant
          July 27, 2018

          The original reply was in 2016. Any updates?

            S
            sarahk6785895
            New Participant
            April 23, 2018

            Waiting for this too!

              P
              phillipclayton
              Participating Frequently
              February 22, 2018

              Looking forward to guides being added - yes a basic requirement but on the whole, XD is a MASSIVE timesaver so can live with it for now.

              Work around as suggested - draw your grid using lines - they can be positioned exactly, by using the right hand property panel for x and y co-ordinates. Once you are happy with it, save them as a symbol so they can be used everywhere. Alternatively, create them in Illustrator (quicker using duplicate) and paste it in.

              Cheers

              P
              phillipclayton
              Participating Frequently
              February 22, 2018

              Also, you can draw 2 lines (horizontal or vertical) and set them as a "Repeat grid" to very quickly draw a grid.

                amantm92
                amantm92
                New Participant
                December 28, 2016

                When will XD have rulers and guides?

                  Preran
                  Community Manager
                  PreranCommunity Manager
                  Community Manager
                  January 3, 2017

                  Hi amantm,

                  Please upvote these requests.

                  Guides – Adobe XD Feedback : Feature Requests & Bugs

                  Rulers – Adobe XD Feedback : Feature Requests & Bugs

                  Thanks,

                  Preran

                  P
                  Adobe Employee
                  Peter_FlynnCorrect answer
                  Adobe Employee
                  November 17, 2016

                  Adobe XD doesn't have a way to create real guides yet. You can add your vote for that feature here: Guides – Adobe XD Feedback

                  In the meantime though, you can closely approximate guides this way: create regular Line objects and then lock them so you can't accidentally move or select them.  Other objects will snap to these lines just like guides.  The only trick is, if you ever need to export the whole artboard, you'll have to manually hide these lines so they're not included in the exported image (you can multi-select them in the Layers panel and then use Object > Hide to toggle all of them at once).

                  Hope that helps!

                  - Peter

                  A
                  Anonymous
                  June 16, 2017

                  When I can expect to add option guidelines Layout?

                  — Thanks

                    Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
                    Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices