Can you add slugs in Illustrator?

[Bigman45]

I'm familiar with adding slugs in Indesign but I'd like to be able to add them in Illustrator files as well.

If it's possible, how do I accomplish it?

[SJRiegel]

Illustrator does not currently have this ability. You can add bleed, but it is limited to one inch. 

Possible workarounds are 1) making a separate artboard that contains the original one or 2) Just make the whole artboard large enough to contain the art and the slug info, and have a dieline in an overprinting spot color to define the live art area.

[Kash29037475i3s9]

Since there is no official way what I usually do is just create a shape that is the width of the slug I need, and copy that shape so it is on all sides of the artboard. Group these shapes together and lower the opacity to 80% and lock that layer. Name the layer SLUG. When you go to export or save out the art just simply turn off the SLUG layer.