Art Board Wrong Size - Created by Using the Art Board Tool on a Rectangle.

[Stage5]

So I'm a graphic designer for a sign company, and we use Illustrator to draw all the sign types to scale with labeled spec's and dimension lines. So I like to have all of my art boards reprented by a Letter size page (8.5"h x 11"w). So I create a box that  is that size, use the Art Board tool to create a new artboard by clicking on the rectangle. This has always given me the proper size Art Board lined up exactly under my rectangle. 

Lately this has not been working correctly, and I can't figure out why. In CC 2019, it shows both the Art Board and the Rectangle as the proper size, but they aren't lining up correctly at all. So I think that Illustrator isn't labeling the Art Board at the size it actually is. I tested this in CC 2021 and it is creating a n artboard slightly larger than the rectangle (8.5139"h x 11.0139"w). 

I don't have align to pixel grid turned on and I don't have pixel preview turned on. It looks like it's creating the Art Board based on the outside edge of the stroke. There are no settings in the Art Board tool to avoid this. Anybody have any ideas what setting might be causing this?

[John Mensinger · Accepted solution]

---

@Stage5 wrote:

It looks like it's creating the Art Board based on the outside edge of the stroke.

---

It is.

Try a rectangle with no stroke.

[Stage5]

Thanks John, That does work. I would like to know what setting is causing the issue though. I've used the steps I described for nearly 20 years with no problems. So I inadvertantly changed some setting somewhere that is causing this. Cheers!

[Ton Frederiks · Accepted solution]

Preferences > Use Preview Bounds checked?  Turn it off.

[Stage5]

That's a really good guess, but it doesn’t seem to be what's causing the issue. I appreciate your reply!

[Stage5]

So it looks like this should be what fixes the problem, but it is still happening. I may dump my preference file tomorrow and start with a newly created one. I'll report back. 

[Stage5]

So that is what is causing this issue. The thing I was missing is that I created the artboards with that setting on. The problem is that the Art Boards can be drawn with a very small decimal, but it doesn't show up in the Art Board settings. So the Art  Boards were set to 8.5032" x 11.0032", but were showing up as 8.5" x 11" in the settings. I think there is still something wrong with the Art Boad tool though, as it's still treating the tool like Preview Bounds is on when I use it on a rectangle, even if I have it turned off. I will start using rectangles with no stroke for now to avoid this issue. I'm guessing this is a bug that just flew under the radar, as I'm almost positive this wasn't an issue when I was on earlier Mac OS versions. 

[Ton Frederiks]

I believe you are right.

Even if Use Preview Bounds is off it still includes the stroke when it is centered or outside aligned.

I checked an older version (CC 2017) and that behaves the same.

You may want to make a feature request here:

https://illustrator.uservoice.com

[Stage5]

Thanks, I thought at one point this worked correctly. Will have to test it out on an older machine to see if I was wrong in believing that. I will check out the link and put a request in for it.

[John Mensinger]

I'm not sure I understand why you don't just draw the rectangle with the art board tool.

[Stage5]

I guess that is probably the way most people using Illustrator do it, but I work as an Environmental Graphic Designer. Which is just basically a fancy way of saying I design signage. Pretty much a thing where graphics, architecture, and engineering meet.

I normally only use Letter Size (8-1/2" x 11") or Tabloid (11" x 17") pages. I need to be able to place my art boards precisely, because I have to accurately copy and move objects from one board to another. Clicking the Add Art Board button gives a weird spacing between the boards. I would use this a lot more if I could tell it the amount I want (which is 3", becaue that's what was the default in FreeHand that we used for a long time).

I know I can rearrange the Art Boards, and I do that all the time, but it centers everything in the middle of the paste board. Which is a place I usually have drawings/sketches I'm actively working on at full size. For me to I prefer to keep all the art boards up near the top left to give me as much room on the paste board as I can have. It's not unheard of for me to work on Channel Letters that go on a large building façade that scales at 1/8" = 1'-0". I know I could move them to the top left after rearranging them in the art board palette, but that’s still a bunch of extra steps. Plus I have to constantly move all my sketches and support objects out of the way.

I'm showing a screenshot of one job I worked on that only had a few sign types. You can already see that I have a good bit of stuff out on the paste board. And this one isn't all that complex of a job. I've had instances of using 50 or more art boards at a time, and I've even a few times hit the max of 100. Sorry for the long description, but thought I'd just answer the reason why I do it the way I do. Thanks!

[John Mensinger]

Thanks for the detailed explanation. I understand it for the most part, except still, why you elect to use the rectangle tool, then convert to an artboard, rather than just drawing that same rectangle in the same location using the Artboard tool, which would just deliver the artboard instead of a rectangle in need of conversion. It saves a step and offers more direct control.