Add Margins in Illustrator

Report · Apr 30, 2014

I have made this little script to quickly add margins to an illustrator document and am posting it here to anyone that might find this helpful.

The script will bring up a dialog where you can enter the sizes. Checking the equal box makes all sizes the same as the first.

You have the option of using Millimetres, Inches or Pixels for your units and a last option to apply to all artboards or just the active one.

The script then adds the guides to a locked layer called 'Margins' for convenience.

There are two versions for your taste- The first creates 4 seperate guidelines. The second creates one rectangle guide.

#target illustrator

var docRef = app.activeDocument;

var artboardRef = docRef.artboards;

var workingLayer = docRef.activeLayer;

//window

var win = new Window('dialog', "Add Margins");

this.windowRef = win;

//panels

win.fieldpanel = win.add("panel", undefined, "");

win.radiopanel = win.add("panel", undefined, "");

win.radiopanel2 = win.add("panel", undefined, "");

//panel orientation

win.fieldpanel.orientation='row';

win.radiopanel.orientation='row';

win.radiopanel2.orientation='row';

//fieldpanel

win.fieldpanel.panel1 = win.fieldpanel.add('panel', undefined, "Left");

win.fieldpanel.panel2 = win.fieldpanel.add('panel', undefined, "Right");

win.fieldpanel.panel3 = win.fieldpanel.add('panel', undefined, "Top");

win.fieldpanel.panel4 = win.fieldpanel.add('panel', undefined, "Bottom");

win.fieldpanel.panel1.left_input = win.fieldpanel.panel1.add('edittext', undefined, "0");

win.fieldpanel.panel2.right_input = win.fieldpanel.panel2.add('edittext', undefined, "0");

win.fieldpanel.panel3.top_input = win.fieldpanel.panel3.add('edittext', undefined, "0");

win.fieldpanel.panel4.bottom_input = win.fieldpanel.panel4.add('edittext', undefined, "0");

win.fieldpanel.panel1.left_input.characters = 5;

win.fieldpanel.panel2.right_input.characters = 5;

win.fieldpanel.panel3.top_input.characters = 5;

win.fieldpanel.panel4.bottom_input.characters = 5;

win.fieldpanel.check1 = win.fieldpanel.add('checkbox', undefined, "Equal");

//radiopanel

win.radiopanel.radio1 = win.radiopanel.add('radiobutton',undefined, "mm");

win.radiopanel.radio2 = win.radiopanel.add('radiobutton',undefined, "in");

win.radiopanel.radio3 = win.radiopanel.add('radiobutton',undefined, "px");

//radiopanel2

win.radiopanel2.radio1 = win.radiopanel2.add('radiobutton',undefined, "All Artboards");

win.radiopanel2.radio2 = win.radiopanel2.add('radiobutton',undefined, "Active Artboard");

//select first radio buttons

win.radiopanel.radio1.value = true;

win.radiopanel2.radio1.value = true;

//ok button

win.okbutton = win.add('button', undefined, "Ok");

//disable fields with checkbox and equal values

win.fieldpanel.check1.onClick = function() {

if(win.fieldpanel.check1.value){

var leftvalue = win.fieldpanel.panel1.left_input.text;

win.fieldpanel.panel2.right_input.text = leftvalue;

win.fieldpanel.panel3.top_input.text = leftvalue;

win.fieldpanel.panel4.bottom_input.text = leftvalue;

win.fieldpanel.panel2.right_input.enabled = false;

win.fieldpanel.panel3.top_input.enabled = false;

win.fieldpanel.panel4.bottom_input.enabled = false;

} else {

win.fieldpanel.panel2.right_input.enabled = true;

win.fieldpanel.panel3.top_input.enabled = true;

win.fieldpanel.panel4.bottom_input.enabled = true;

}

};

//sync values while checked

win.fieldpanel.panel1.left_input.onChanging = function (){

if(win.fieldpanel.check1.value){

var leftvalue = win.fieldpanel.panel1.left_input.text;

win.fieldpanel.panel2.right_input.text = leftvalue;

win.fieldpanel.panel3.top_input.text = leftvalue;

win.fieldpanel.panel4.bottom_input.text = leftvalue;

}

};

//event listener for ok button

win.okbutton.onClick = function(){

var leftvalue = win.fieldpanel.panel1.left_input.text;

var rightvalue = win.fieldpanel.panel2.right_input.text;

var topvalue = win.fieldpanel.panel3.top_input.text;

var bottomvalue = win.fieldpanel.panel4.bottom_input.text;

if(win.radiopanel.radio1.value) {

var multiplier = 2.834645669291339

}

if(win.radiopanel.radio2.value) {

var multiplier = 72

}

if(win.radiopanel.radio3.value) {

var multiplier = 1

}

//close window

win.close();

//make a margins layer

var guideLayer = docRef.layers.add();

guideLayer.name = "Margins";

if(win.radiopanel2.radio1.value) {

//repeat for each artboard

for(i=0;i<artboardRef.length;i++){

//get artboard size

var left=artboardRef[i].artboardRect[0];

var top=artboardRef[i].artboardRect[1] ;

var right=artboardRef[i].artboardRect[2] ;

var bottom=artboardRef[i].artboardRect[3] ;

//create lines

var lineLeft = docRef.pathItems.add();

var lineRight = docRef.pathItems.add();

var lineTop = docRef.pathItems.add();

var lineBottom = docRef.pathItems.add();

//set line points

var leftmargin = (leftvalue * multiplier);

var rightmargin = (rightvalue * multiplier);

var topmargin = (topvalue * multiplier);

var bottommargin = (bottomvalue * multiplier);

//set line points

lineLeft.setEntirePath([[left + leftmargin, top], [left + leftmargin, bottom]]);

lineRight.setEntirePath([[right - rightmargin, top], [right - rightmargin, bottom]]);

lineTop.setEntirePath([[left, top - topmargin], [right, top - topmargin]]);

lineBottom.setEntirePath([[left, bottom + bottommargin], [right, bottom + bottommargin]]);

//make lines guides

lineLeft.guides = true;

lineRight.guides = true;

lineTop.guides = true;

lineBottom.guides = true;

};

} else {

//get artboard size

var activeAB = docRef.artboards[docRef.artboards.getActiveArtboardIndex()]; // get active AB

var left = activeAB.artboardRect[0];

var top = activeAB.artboardRect[1] ;

var right = activeAB.artboardRect[2] ;

var bottom = activeAB.artboardRect[3] ;

//create lines

var lineLeft = docRef.pathItems.add();

var lineRight = docRef.pathItems.add();

var lineTop = docRef.pathItems.add();

var lineBottom = docRef.pathItems.add();

//set line points

var leftmargin = (leftvalue * multiplier);

var rightmargin = (rightvalue * multiplier);

var topmargin = (topvalue * multiplier);

var bottommargin = (bottomvalue * multiplier);

//set line points

lineLeft.setEntirePath([[left + leftmargin, top], [left + leftmargin, bottom]]);

lineRight.setEntirePath([[right - rightmargin, top], [right - rightmargin, bottom]]);

lineTop.setEntirePath([[left, top - topmargin], [right, top - topmargin]]);

lineBottom.setEntirePath([[left, bottom + bottommargin], [right, bottom + bottommargin]]);

//make lines guides

lineLeft.guides = true;

lineRight.guides = true;

lineTop.guides = true;

lineBottom.guides = true;

};

//lock margins layer and activate original layer

guideLayer.zOrder (ZOrderMethod.SENDTOBACK);

guideLayer.locked = true;

docRef.activeLayer = workingLayer;

};

win.show();

Box Margin Version: