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Guides are not showing when i pull them from the ruler

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Ok so i'm pretty new to the program, the guides have been working but have suddenly stopped.

I can see the dotted lines when i pull from the ruler but when i release they don't show and disappear.

The layer is unlocked, i have smart guides ticked, i've checked and i'm not hiding guides, my colour is set to cyan.

So what am i doing wrong.

thanks in advance

J

Joslin_RCorrect answer

Participant

I tried ALLL of the things and nothing worked. I decided to restart my computer and now everything is back as it should be.

basil_1705

Participant

Have you tried turning off “Trim View?” I was having this problem (guides not showing, “Hide Edges” being turned off, restarted, ect) and they finally came back when I turned off Trim View.

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Joslin_RCorrect answer

Participant

I tried ALLL of the things and nothing worked. I decided to restart my computer and now everything is back as it should be.

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Sarah Bell Map

Participating Frequently

2025 answer - I experience this problem intermittently. Here is what I do to fix it. None of the solutions on this post worked for me, but here is what always works for me (apologies if somehow I missed someone else who posted this solution) > The layer that I am dragging guides into seems corrupt. So if I either duplicate the layer that contained my original guides or create a new layer and drag new guides into it, I can see the guides. Works every time.

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Jeremy336756588lmd

Participant

This was the solution for me. I suspect the cause of the issue was that I experienced a crash and the file had to be recovered which corrupted the layer I was using for guides. Thanks Sarah!

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brianl65645113

Participant

Try closing and update program.

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aaronadoty01

Known Participant

I had this problem too. None of the other correct answers was relevant to my situation – in my case, I finally realised that I had "Hide Edges" turned on (CMD-H Mac, CTRL-H Windows). It is easy to forget if you have done this...

I "fixed" the issue by going to View > Show Edges.

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Ton Frederiks

Community Expert

If the Guides are unlocked and selected, Hide Edges will indeed hide them.

Guides that are not selected are still visible.

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Arsenije5E45

Participant

Been almost a decade since this question, but i had a similar problem, turned out that, if you make a clipping mask, with a ruler guide inside the clipping mask, it will be untouchable.

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ztt7869

Participant

If anyone else is still having this issue after trying all of these other solutions, make sure that the layer you have selected is not locked.

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drtamarap

Participating Frequently

In Acrobat? Not possible!!

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ztt7869

Participant

This post is for Adobe Illustrator, not Acrobat.

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SileNeshoba

Participant

Recently, I've been having a similar problem where I drag the guide from the ruler (and I know it's not from the corner), but when I release, it doesn't always make the guide. The problem mainly is when I'm trying to make horizontal lines and it's getting a bit frustrating when I'm trying to make objects that I need to be as spot on as possible. I've been using Illustrator for a couple of years now, but I'm really not finding anything online or inside Illustrator that can tell me what it is that's off with making the guides. No locks, no hidden, but still can't make the guide by dragging from the ruler to where I want it after the first one is made.

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