Feature Suggestion: Artboard locking, hiding and artboard editing mode

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
March 14, 2021
1 reply
884 views

Artboards in Illustrator are suberbly useful but there are some conceptually simple features that we could make use of:

1. Lock Artboards - this makes the objects on a locked artboard unselectable/editable overriding individual settings.

2. Hide Artboards - removes the artboard and work on it from view. Helps remove distractions from view, especially when you're showing your Art Director the latest work!

3. Local Editing Mode - illustrator already notionally works on one artboard at a time... the one that's zoomed to with Cmd-0, or pasted to with Cmd-V... perhaps there could be a mode switch, simial to the 'Draw Inside' mode where all operations are confined to objects on the current artboard. Useful for Cmd-A for example. This would override unlocked artboards of course! This mode of operation is already familiar in InDesign where only current-spread object appear in the layers.

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Correct answer barbara_a7746676

Feature enhancements and bugs can be logged at https://illustrator.uservoice.com/

1. While you can't lock artboards, you can lock layers and objects. You could put all objects that you want to lock/unlock on a separate layer.

2. If you choose View > Hide Artboards, that will remove it from viw.

3. There is a command Select > All on Artboard. Perhaps that would be helpful for you.

barbara_a7746676

Correct answer

Community Expert

Feature enhancements and bugs can be logged at https://illustrator.uservoice.com/

1. While you can't lock artboards, you can lock layers and objects. You could put all objects that you want to lock/unlock on a separate layer.

2. If you choose View > Hide Artboards, that will remove it from viw.

3. There is a command Select > All on Artboard. Perhaps that would be helpful for you.

briano79524326Author

Participant

Hi Barbara, thanks for your reply.

So that's where the feature requests go... I spent a while looking for such a place but couldn't find it.

These are quite interesting - I hadn't realised the presence of Select All on Artboard.

The suggestions were inspired by the look of the Artboard panel - it looks just like the Layers list but without the View/Hide and Lock toggles.

When I'm doing quick iterations (like logo designs etc) I use a technique where I keep creating new artboards by Alt-Dragging to duplicate the existing logo for further development. Keeping a trail of logos as they develop is really useful. This duplicates the elements in the exiting layers and I sometimes want to select the objects in my layers by clicking on the coloured select toggle on the layer panel - this is a great way to keep organised. But it doesn't know about artboards, so locking an artboard (with its contents) would be a great way to enhance that workflow.

I've worked previously by moving objects on different artboards to different layers but if I'm already using the layers to separate the elements of a design on each artboard this can take a lot of extra time, especially when working very fast with logo iterations, this can be a significant proportion of the time.

Hiding the artboards currently literally only removes the visual distinction between artboard and pasteboard areas. I'm really looking for a way to hide the work too... like if I wanted to remove logo options from view. The big advantage again is that it fits with the existing workflow - it doesn't require extra preparation to make this happen. In this case it can be about using the hide feature to eliminate ideas (reversably / temporarily) to have the remaining artbords visible for reflection. It's all about working visually and experimentally rather than having a planned outcome in mind here.

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